Statistics and IQ in Developing Countries: A Note

The purpose of this study is to assess the nexus between intelligence (or human capital) and statistical capacity in developing countries. The line of inquiry is motivated essentially by: (i) the scarce literature devoted to elucidating poor statistics in developing countries and (ii) an evolving stream of literature on knowledge economy. We have established a positive association between intelligence quotient (IQ) and statistical capacity. The relationship is: (i) consistent with the employment of alternative specifications based on varying conditioning information sets and (ii) robust to the control of outliers. Policy implications are discussed.