Intelligence and the Wealth of Nations

The abstract of a recent paper by Vittorio Daniele in the JSE (October 2013):

Can the average intelligence quotient (IQ) of populations be considered the root cause of international development inequalities? Psychologists and some economic studies have proposed the existence of a link between intelligence quotient and economic development. The paper tests this hypothesis, using different measures of economic development for the year 1500. Consistent with Jared Diamond's (1997) hypothesis, the paper shows how the differences in the timing of agriculture transition and the histories of States, not population IQ differences, predict international development differences before the colonial era. The average IQ of populations appears to be endogenous, related to the diverse stages of nations’ modernization, rather than being an exogenous cause of economic development.

Intelligence and bribing behavior

We investigate the relationship between intelligence and bribing behavior in a simple one-shot game of corruption. We find a robust relationship between intelligence and the probability of bribing in which a higher intelligence quotient (IQ) leads to a lower probability of bribing in the game. This result holds after controlling for other determinants such as gender, attitude toward corruption, and perceptions of corruption. By revealing the gender of the matched player, we also show that gender perceptions of corruption are strong determinants of bribery.

Source: "Intelligence and bribing behavior in a one-shot game" (Shaw, Vásquez,  & LeClair, The Journal of Socio-Economics, June 2013). I did not find a draft online.

See two related posts:

1) What is the link between intelligence and corruption?

2) IQs predict differences in the technological development of nations from 1000 BC through 2000 AD.

Intelligence

Two abstracts from the journal Intelligence: 

Biological correlates of northern–southern Italy differences in IQ 

The present study was intended to provide perspective, albeit less than unequivocal, on the research of Lynn (2010) who reported higher IQs in the northern than southern Italian regions. He attributes this to northern Italians having a greater genetic similarity to middle Europeans and southern Italians to Mediterranean people. Higher regional IQ was associated with biological variables more characteristic of middle European than Mediterranean populations (cephalic index, eye color, hair color, multiple sclerosis rates, schizophrenia rates). It was maintained, however, that very confident and definitive inferences regarding genetic regional differences in IQ are not warranted. Social conceptualized variables also correlated significantly with IQ so as to suggest the importance of nutrition and economic developmental status more generally.

IQs predict differences in the technological development of nations from 1000 BC through 2000 AD

National IQs and measures of technological development given by Comin, Easterly and Gong (2010) are presented for 133 nations for the year 1000 BC, for 134 nations for 0 AD, for 120 nations for 1500 AD and for 133 nations for 2000 AD. It is shown that national IQs are significantly correlated with national differences in technological development at 0.42 in 1000 BC, 0.18 in 0 AD, 0.63 in 1500 D, and 0.75 in 2000 AD.

I did not find the papers online.