Wealthy in pocket, rich in ethics: Can IQ help?
( 2003-11-17 13:40) (China Daily HK Edition)
Ever since Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations"
economists have been debating why some countries are rich and others poor. Smith
wrote his inquiry into the causes of wealth in 1776 - the year America declared
its independence from Britain. In that new epoch, China had already begun its
downward spiral from a long period as the wealthiest country in the world. It
lost the throne - but logic dictates that it will regain the golden seat if you
accept the argument in a recent study that compared world IQ levels and GDP
rates. The researchers found that wealth in pocket correlated to intelligence -
and the Chinese were among the smartest.
Richard Lynn, professor of psychology at the University of Ulster, and Tatu
Vanhanen, professor of political science at the University of Tampere in
Finland, concluded that the societies with the highest average intelligence were
Japan, South Korea, Chinese mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore, with IQs
averaging 105. The next brightest were Europe, the United States, Canada,
Australia and New Zealand, averaging 100. In South Asia, North Africa and most
of Latin American, the average was about 85, and in sub-Saharan Africa and the
Caribbean closer to 70.
China, Russia and Eastern Europe had high average intelligence quotients but
low incomes, the two academics noted in their book, "IQ and the Wealth of
Nations". But citing China, Professor Flynn said that since the country has
moved towards a market economy, the GDP rate has raced ahead, and he forecast it
would catch up with the West by the middle of the century.
Their findings led me to mull on another issue - the wealth of ethics of
nations. A society's golden stock of shared values or "social capital". Ethics
concerns cooperation and crime is the opposite. For more than half a century,
Interpol and the UN have been drawing up comparative tables of world-crime
rates. The statistics paint a comparatively bright picture in East Asia, dimmer
in the West and darkest in Africa and Latin America.
What relevance does intelligence have to this issue? Broadly speaking, many
crimes do not require great skill. A smaller proportion hinges on brainpower -
from planned heists, counterfeiting and complex trans-national operations to
computer extortion and white-collar misdeeds on the stock exchange. While
high-tech police units target sophisticated criminals, ultra-smart felons are a
minority. A far larger number of criminals achieve success by brute force (a
low-IQ thug can buy a gun and get a foot up the career-criminal ladder).
What a contrast this makes with the work domain. In most careers it is simply
impossible to succeed without aptitude. The process of getting richer through
honest sweat requires intelligence. The issue of morality and IQ is more
complex. The high GDP countries of East Asia enjoy low-crime rates - but this is
less so in Europe and far less in America.
Low IQs and crime. Is there a link? A report by the Australian Institute of
Criminology noted: "Researchers have found that the average IQ of offender
populations is about 10 points below that of the general population ... offences
such as assault, homicide and rape are associated with lower IQs than the
average within the offender population. Crimes of violence are usually crimes
with an immediate payoff, in contrast to crimes requiring planning and
preparation and possibly a deferred payoff. Impulsiveness itself is a negative
correlate of intelligence. and there is evidence to suggest that low-IQ scores
are associated with impulsive crimes."
The concept of intelligence and good behaviour can be looked at in a wider
way - not in terms of the individual but his birthright. If you are born into a
society with an "intelligent" culture, the chances are that you will be better
behaved than if the prevailing ethos lacks wisdom. Cultures are different all
over the world and the citizens of a country are the inheritors of its
collective wisdom: the wealth of thought that dates back to ancient
times.
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