Is there relationship between a nation's IQ and wealth?

Did it ever come to your mind to ponder whether a nation's level of intelligence (or Intelligence Quotient, IQ) tells us of the economic status of a certain country?

Or, in a more acadenic postulate, can the average national intelligence quotient (IQ) of a country correlate to its national or the per capita gross domestic product (GDP)?

This is what Dr. Richard Lynn and Dr. Tatu Vanhanen have been trying to prove in their controversial 2002 book IQ and the Wealth of Nations.

In the book, the authors state that IQ is an important factor contributing to differences in national wealth and rates of economic growth. The authors believe that average IQ differences between nations are due to both generic and economic factors. They also say that a low GDP can cause low IQ, and a low IQ can cause low GDP.

The authors included in the book their calculation of average IQ scores of 81 countries, based on their analysis of published reports. Their reported observation was that national IQ correlates with gross domestic product per capita 0.81 and with the rate of economic growth from 1950-1990 at 0.64

However, the authors data based it on what they believe to be the average IQs of the world nations. Because doing their own IQ studies, would be a massive and taxing project, they averaged and adjusted existing studies on these issues.

In countries where no studies are available, the authors used and estimated value by taking averages of the IQs of neighboring or comparable nations, such as the case of Guatemala and Colombia whose IQ average were based on those of El Salvador.

Different methods of obtaining figures were used for different countries. Sometimes based on different ethnic groups, sometimes on their neighboring countries and sometimes on countries that is not actually neighbors, but whose language are the same of the majority of the population of the country being studied..

The data, methodology and conclusions in the book have been criticized, but it was cited several times in the popular press, notably of the British conservative newspaper. And because Tatu Vanhanen is the father of Matti Vanhanen, the Finish Prime minister, his work has received wide publicity in Finland.

I find the study quite interesting, and really, if I can squeeze it into my routine I'd like to replicate this one on a regional scope.

(Dr. Richard Lynn is a Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland and Dr. Tatu Vanhanen is a Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland.)