The impact of low, average, and high IQ on economic growth and technological progress: Do all individuals contribute equally?

Abstract

Individuals that reside in the highest social stratum of intelligence (i.e., those that have a high IQ) have been shown to generate relatively more national income and are more innovative, with those that have the lowest levels of IQ being less influential on economic development. However, the degree to which all levels of IQ influence economic growth and technological innovation remains unclear. By assuming that the IQ of a population is modeled based on a bell curve, we arrange IQ into three strata, namely intellectual class, average ability citizens, and non-intellectual class, which are represented by the 95 th , 50 th , and 5 th percentiles of cognitive ability, respectively. Our multiple hierarchical regression analysis of a sample of over 60 countries shows that the intellectual class has the greatest impact on economic growth followed by average ability citizens and the non-intellectual class in that order. Moreover, we find evidence that the impact of the intellectual class on technological progress is exceptionally more significant than even the number of professional researchers engaged in R&D activities, with average ability citizens and the non-intellectual class not significant. These findings allow us to suggest that the government and private institutions should not only employ professionals with good experiences and high academic credentials, but also those who has excellent IQ levels to work in their R&D sectors. However, in order to foster economic growth, governments should invest into facilities that benefit all societal 2 groups of intelligence level, with highest priority given to the intellectual class, followed by the average ability citizens and the non-intellectual class respectively.Keywords: economic growth; innovation; intellectual class; national IQ; non-intellectual class; patent JEL Classifications: I25, J24, O3, O47, Z13 IntroductionEmpirical studies have found that intellectual people, namely those that have a high IQ, contribute more to socioeconomic development in a society as compared to the average ability citizens. For example, assuming that the IQ of a population is modeled based on a normal distribution or bell curve (Herrnstein & Murray, 2010), Rindermann and Thompson (2011) found that the smartest proportion (i.e., those at the 95 th percentile on the IQ scale) is more significant in raising cross-national income and technological achievement as compared to the citizens that have an average IQ (50 th percentile). This finding implies that although the size of this "intellectual class" as it is termed in this paper is relatively small in the population, they are able to benefit society to a greater degree than society contributes to their lives.In a similar vein, Rindermann, Sailer, and Thompson (2009) Literature ReviewThe centuries-old relationship between cognitive ability and technological achievement has recently been explored. Lynn (2012), for example, examined 120 countries in order to assess the degree to which technological achievement over millennia at...

Crimes and the Bell curve: The role of people with high, average, and low intelligence

“…We found that these ranges of standardized IQ betas were considerably smaller than the beta coefficients for the impact of IQ on technological progress (β = .036-.272) and economic growth (β = .649-.783) calculated by Burhan et al (2014b) in standard growth models, using the same IQ dataset.…”

“…Therefore, the intellectual class has the greatest impact in reducing the level of crimes through the enhanced functionality and quality of these sociodevelopmental and legal institutions across countries. Given previous findings on the positive impact of increasing IQ of the intellectual class as opposed to other social classes, it seems desirable that the education system focuses on improving the IQ of the top percentile group (Burhan et al, 2014b;Pritchett & Viarengo, 2009) to improve the competence of future leaders and policymakers and thereby the quality and functionality of civic and economic institutions.…”

“…Thus, these individuals are more efficient and innovative problem solvers, with their IQ resulting in enhanced job performance (Byington & Felps, 2010;Ree, Carretta, & Teachout, 1995;Salgado, Anderson, Moscoso, Bertua, & De Fruyt, 2003a;Schmidt & Hunter, 2004). Therefore, at a cross-country level, IQ has been shown to be a significant determinant of important socioeconomic indicators: gross domestic product (GDP) per capita (Hanushek & Kimko, 2000;Jones & Schneider, 2010;Lynn & Vanhanen, 2002Zajenkowski, Stolarski, & Meisenberg, 2013), GDP per capita growth (Burhan, Mohamad, Kurniawan, & Sidek, 2014a;Jones & Schneider, 2006;Meisenberg, 2012;Ram, 2007;Weede & Kämpf, 2002), technological achievement (Burhan et al, 2014b;Gelade, 2008;Lynn, 2012;Rindermann, 2012), and quality of institutions (Jones & Potrafke, 2014;Kanyama, 2014).…”

Has globalization triggered collective impact of national intelligence on economic growth?

“…The studies have concluded that countries with higher IQs generate higher productivity than countries with lower IQs (e.g., Burhan, Mohamad, Kurniawan, & Sidek, 2014a;Jones & Schneider, 2006;Lynn & Vanhanen, 2002Meisenberg, 2012;Rindermann, 2012;Rindermann & Thompson, 2011;Weede & Kämpf, 2002). As the IQ-productivity relationship is robust, some other recent studies have established that it is possible to increase per capita national income by raising the impact of IQ on productivity through the O-ring effect of skill complementarities.…”

Does intelligence explain the association between generalized trust and economic development?

“…This is true not just across countries, but also among regions within a country (Dutton & Lynn, 2014;Kura, 2013;Lynn, 2010Lynn, , 2012aLynn & Cheng, 2013;Pesta, McDaniel, & Bertsch, 2010). Some have argued that intelligence stimulates development via mechanisms such as scientifictechnological accomplishment, and the adoption of capitalist institutions (Burhan, Mohamad, Kurniawan, & Sidek, 2014;Rindermann, 2012;Rindermann & Thompson, 2011). Others have asserted that, in fact, development enhances intelligence through pathways such as better nutrition and superior education (Daniele, 2013;Wicherts, Borsboom, & Dolan, 2010a.…”