Garett Jones

Hive Mind

How Your Nation's IQ Matters So Much More Than Your Own

• Gebundenes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

In Hive Mind, Garett Jones draws on an array of research from psychology, economics, management, and political science to make the case that IQ scores are a strong predictor of national prosperity.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Stanford University Press
• Seitenzahl: 224
• Erscheinungstermin: 11. November 2015
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 236mm x 156mm x 25mm
• Gewicht: 472g
• ISBN-13: 9780804785969
• ISBN-10: 0804785961
• Artikelnr.: 42787100

Autorenporträt

Garett Jones is Associate Professor of Economics at the Center for Study of Public Choice, George Mason University. Garett's research and commentary have appeared in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Forbes, and Businessweek.

Inhaltsangabe

Contents and Abstracts
Introduction: The Paradox of IQ
chapter abstract
IQ differences across people within a country predict only modest
differences in wages, but average differences in IQ-type scores across
countries predict massive differences in productivity across country. This
is the paradox to be explained, and the explanation propels the book
forward.
1Just a Test Score?
chapter abstract
The chapter offers a rapid overview of modern IQ research, drawing heavily
on recent textbooks published by Oxford and Cambridge University presses.
The most important fact about IQ is that skills predict skills: as a
practical matter, all mental abilities that a typical person thinks about
as parts of "intelligence" are at least weakly positively correlated. So
people with higher math scores tend to have higher verbal scores and are
usually faster at solving wooden block puzzles. IQ also predicts wages and
worker skill, as labor economists and human resource professors routinely
find. But social intelligence, while a subject of popular discussion, is a
weaker predictor of typical job outcomes than IQ.
2A da Vinci Effect for Nations
chapter abstract
Can national average IQ scores really be compared across countries the way
that math and science tests routinely are? Is test bias too much of a
problem to make the scores useful? Psychologists have debated the value of
national average IQ estimates, but the result of the debate is a surprising
consensus: outwardly fair tests appear to document lower average scores in
the world's poorest regions, though scholars debate the precise magnitude.
And while test bias can't be entirely ruled out, the fact that nations with
lower average IQ scores also tend to perform poorly on math, science, and
reading tests is additional evidence that broad-based mental skills
currently differ across countries. East Asia's high average scores are also
discussed.
3James Flynn and the Quest to Raise Global IQ
chapter abstract
IQ scores have risen over the course of the past century in the rich
countries, a finding known as the Flynn Effect, after the philosopher who
documented the regularity. This is the key inarguable piece of evidence
that IQ is influenced by the environment. But the Flynn Effect raises
questions: Are there practical policies that can raise IQ, or are the
channels for raising IQ still a mystery? Is the Flynn effect a real rise in
broad mental abilities, or is it just a rise in narrow test-taking ability?
The chapter surveys the empirical evidence, which ultimately is quite
ambiguous. If IQ matters more for nations than for individuals, then more
research into the Flynn Effect is needed.
4Will the Intelligent Inherit the Earth?
chapter abstract
Psychologists and economists have both found that higher IQ predicts more
patience. Economic theory predicts that nations with more patient citizens
will tend to have higher savings rates, and if capital can freely move
across borders, ultimately the most patient nations will own all of the
world's assets, with the less patient nations holding only debts to be
repaid. The chapter looks at cross-country evidence testing these claims.
5Smarter Groups Are More Cooperative
chapter abstract
Psychological, management, and economics research provide strong empirical
evidence that in experimental settings, smarter groups are more
cooperative. The prisoner's dilemma, the trust game, public goods games,
and more fluid negotiation games all provide evidence.
6Patience and Cooperation as Ingredients for Good Politics
chapter abstract
The Nobel-winning Coase Theorem concept provides a link between the
experimental results of the previous chapter and the world of politics.
Politics is a world of negotiation. If smarter groups are more cooperative,
better at finding win-win outcomes, then we can expect nations with higher
test scores to, on average, have political systems that encourage people to
grow the economic pie rather than fight for the biggest share. The
Nobel-winning theory of "time inconsistency" shows how patience can help
politicians commit to good long-run policies even when they are tempted in
the short run as well. And cross-country evidence shows that even if we
know a nation's level of income and a variety of other factors, a nation's
average test scores predict better, less corrupt institutions.
7Informed Voters and the Question of Epistocracy
chapter abstract
Toxicology researchers have found that better-educated people are more
likely to agree with toxicologists that when it comes to toxic chemicals
"the danger is in the dose." Bryan Caplan has found that better-educated
citizens tend to think like economists, favoring modestly
more-market-oriented policies. And Caplan's work with Miller finds that IQ
itself helps predict pro-market attitudes. Together with some limited
evidence that higher IQ individuals are more socially liberal, this
suggests that nations with higher-IQ citizens may be more likely to be
socially liberal and more laissez-faire in their economic views. The
philosophical debate over "epistocracy"-rule by the informed-is also
discussed.
8The O-Ring Theory of Teams
chapter abstract
Many production processes are fragile, such that one small error along the
way can destroy the product's value. Computer chip production is an obvious
example, while corporate megamergers are a less obvious example. Michael
Kremer's O-Ring Theory shows how in such settings, high-skilled workers
will tend to wind up sorted into highly productive firms while less-skilled
workers will sort together into much less productive firms. Kremer's theory
shows how small skill differences can cause big differences in
productivity. Empirical evidence that productive workers help to make their
peers more productive is also surveyed, a reminder that small individual
productivity differences can have bigger overall effects by example to
others. The psychology and management literature on team IQ and team
productivity is also surveyed.
9The Endless Quest for Substitutes and the Economic Benefits of Immigration
chapter abstract
Drawing on the author's own economic model, the chapter begins by showing
how to reconcile the O-ring prediction that small differences in group
skill should cause massive changes in wages within a country with the
real-world fact that small differences in group skill only predict small
differences in wages within a country. From there, the literature on the
large economic benefits and small, perhaps negligible economic costs of
lower-skilled immigration are surveyed. The chapter closes by noting the
tension between this chapter's claim that lower-skilled immigration has
small economic costs and the evidence of the previous chapters that
higher-scoring citizens are likely to improve government quality.
10Poem and Conclusion
chapter abstract
The chapter begins with a poem summarizing the book's argument. It then
briefly discusses the modestly suggestive evidence that the highest-scoring
5 percent of a nation's citizens might have a disproportionate influence on
the nation's economic and institutional outcomes; this is clearly an area
in which further research would have high returns. And it closes with a
call to search for a global Flynn Cycle, in which better nutrition and
schooling raises IQ, which raises productivity, which in turn raises health
and schooling quality. With our current knowledge, a Flynn Cycle may be
possible, it may be impossible, but it's important to find out which is the
truth.