Poverty and Intelligence: Evidence Using Quantile Regression

This study revisits the conclusion of Lynn and Vanhanen (2006) which suggests that countries with a high IQ on average are those with low poverty rates. We go beyond the simple bivariate correlation by controlling for other variables and using alternative econometric techniques. Our findings confirm that the conclusions of Lynn and Vanhanen (2006) remain robust. Moreover, the mitigating incidence of intelligence is higher in bottom quantiles than in top quantiles, which supports the greater relevance of knowledge economy in poorer countries.