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IQ and Mathematics Ability of Tibetans and Han Chinese
Abstract
The intelligence and mathematical ability of Tibetan and Han Chinese junior and senior secondary school and college students in Tibet was assessed by a modified version of the Standard Progressive Matrices and a mathematics test. Among junior secondary school students, the Tibetans obtained a lower IQ than the Chinese by 12.6 IQ points, and also scored lower on mathematics. Tibetan senior secondary school students and college students also obtained lower IQs and lower scores on mathematics tests than the Chinese.
... Scores for 28 additional countries and territories were estimated from the scores of neighboring countries with similar population, culture, and economic development, as described for IQ in Lynn & Vanhanen (2002. Provincial data were used in two cases: The estimate for Afghanistan was derived from the measured IQ in the Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan (Ahmad et al., 2008), which is inhabited by ethnic Pashtuns living under conditions similar to Pashtuns in Afghanistan; and the estimate for Bhutan was the average of Nepal, India and Tibet (Lynn, 2008b). Estimates are included in the last column of the appendix as numbers in parentheses. ...
"Human capital" is a key requirement for the establishment and maintenance of effective institutions. It is the ultimate requirement for innovation, efficient use of resources, and economic growth. This contribution describes two measures of cognitive human capital: the average IQ of the population, and the performance of school children on international scholastic assessment tests in mathematics, science, and reading. These two measures are shown to be closely correlated at the country level, and distinct from traditional measures of education. A measure of human capital is described that is derived from IQ and school achievement. Data based on measured IQ and/or school achievement are given for 168 countries and territories, and estimates based on neighboring countries with similar population, culture and economy are provided for 28 additional countries.
... For large countries, we will need data at the 352 regional level. In Pakistan, for example, the IQ difference between 353 the most developed province (Sindh) and the least developed prov-354 ince (Northwest Frontier Province) is approximately 15 points on Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices(Ahmad, Khanum, Riaz, & Lynn, 2008); and in China, members of the Tibetan minority score 357 about 12.6 points below the Han Chinese(Lynn, 2008b). An IQ map 358 of the United States has already been used to correlate state IQ ...
One of the most consequential parts of Richard Lynn’s work is the establishment of a comprehensive data set of “national IQ” for nearly all countries in the world. The present contribution demonstrates the use of this database for the explanation of two economic outcomes: (1) economic growth and level of attained wealth at the country level; and (2) income distribution in countries as measured by the Gini index. The results show that high IQ is associated not only with high per-capita GDP and fast economic growth, but also with more equal income distribution. These outcomes are not mediated by educational exposure.
... Scores for 28 additional countries and territories were estimated from the scores of neighboring countries with similar population, culture, and economic development, as described for IQ in Lynn & Vanhanen (2002. Provincial data were used in two cases: The estimate for Afghanistan was derived from the measured IQ in the Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan (Ahmad et al., 2008), which is inhabited by ethnic Pashtuns living under conditions similar to Pashtuns in Afghanistan; and the estimate for Bhutan was the average of Nepal, India and Tibet (Lynn, 2008b). Estimates are included in the last column of the appendix as numbers in parentheses. ...
Human capital" is a key requirement for the establishment and maintenance of effective institutions. It is the ultimate requirement for innovation, efficient use of resources, and economic growth. This contribution describes two measures of cognitive human capital: the average IQ of the population, and the performance of school children on international scholastic assessment tests in mathematics, science, and reading. These two measures are shown to be closely correlated at the country level, and distinct from traditional measures of education. A measure of human capital is described that is derived from IQ and school achievement. Data based on measured IQ and/or school achievement are given for 168 countries and territories, and estimates based on neighboring countries with similar population, culture and economy are provided for 28 additional countries. Japan is a rich country, and Nigeria is a poor country. There is no lack of explanations for this discrepancy. Some authors have offered geography as an ultimate explanation for economic disparities between countries and world regions (Diamond, 1997; Hibbs & Olsson, 2004; Nordhaus, 2006). Everything else being equal, countries with greater natural resources and greater proximity to world markets should be richer. Nigeria has more natural resources than Japan and is closer to the old industrial centers of Europe. Therefore Nigeria should be richer than Japan. History and culture fare not much better than geography as
Obtaining and maintaining control over limited resources are of primary importance for group survival. Group cohesion and "high abilities," such as self-discipline, work ethic, ambition and intelligence, are crucial for successful inter-group competition, especially upon initial migration into an area in which that group is vastly outnumbered. Although wealth and status may at first lie exclusively within the domain of the indigenous majority, these may shift over time to the numerically inferior but more cohesive and able group. Shifts of wealth and status from the majority to the minority, especially between distinct ethnic and racial groups, have frequently sparked inter-group conflict. Economic disparity (Gini index) and, interestingly, degree of political freedom (index of democracy) positively correlate with violence. Efforts to equalize social-economic disparities in multicultural states that do not consider group differences in innate abilities will fail.
Average IQs for 113 countries have been presented in Lynn & Vanhanen (2006): IQ and Global Inequality. Augusta (GA): Washington Summit. In the current paper this compilation is extended and updated. New national IQs are presented for 25 countries and revised national IQs for 16 countries. Numerous cultural, biological, economic, political and medical correlates of country-level intelligence have been demonstrated in previous studies. It is recommended that the new and updated IQs presented in this paper should be used as the best estimates of the average IQs for these countries by scholars investigating these correlates.
This study reports the differences in intelligence across thirty-one regions of the People's Republic of China. It was found that regional IQs were significantly associated with the percentage of Han in the population (r = .59), GDP per capita (r = .42), the percentage of those with higher education (r = 38, p<.05), and non-significantly with years of education (r = .32). The results of the multiple regression showed that both the percentage of Han in the region and the GDP per capita were significant predictors of regional IQs, accounting for 39% of the total variance.
This paper investigates convergence patterns among China's provinces using GDP data for the period 1952–97. We analyze convergence behaviour on the basis of Markov chains proposed by Quah (1993) and the generalized entropy decomposition proposed by Shorrocks (1980, 1984). Both sets of results show similar evidence of convergence within the pre-defined geo-economic sub-regions, but no evidence is found of convergence between the sub-regions. This finding has important policy implications for regional economic development in China.
JEL classification: C33, E20, O47.
The lower average correlations among mental tests in groups of individuals of above-average IQ than is found in groups of individuals of below-average IQ implies a smaller general factor, or g, in the higher-IQ group, a phenomenon Spearman called the ‘Law of Diminishing Returns’. This phenomenon was confirmed in six independent data sets based on three different test batteries. It implies that psychometric g is less general in persons of high IQ and more general among those of low IQ. Two heretofore unknown effects were revealed consistently: (1) The g loadings of the various tests in a battery do not differ uniformly or randomly between high- and low-IQ groups; rather, the loadings are much more variable for higher-IQ samples than for lower-IQ samples; (2) Those tests in a battery that are less g-loaded (where g loadings are based on the general population) consistently show greater decrements in their g loadings between low- and high-IQ groups than do the more highly g-loaded tests, which show relatively little difference between low- and high-IQ groups.
Spearman's “Law of Diminishing Returns” states that the g saturation of a test is greater for individuals with lower, rather than higher, test scores, and that it decreases with age. A common methodological problem in testing Spearman's “Law of Diminishing Returns” with respect to ability differentiation is how to create the high and low ability groups. This study used data from five samples of Dutch and of immigrants who where administrated traditional cognitive ability tests and cognitively loaded safety suitability tests. Their large average test score difference in cognitive ability produced the two ability level groups required. Analysis of each group yielded highly comparable variance, reliability, and factor structure. The effect sizes were in the direction predicted by Spearman's Law, but of modest size, lying between − 0.012 and 0.097, with an average of 0.02 across 1–1.5 SD ability difference. The results for our five samples are quite consistent with over 75 years of research establishing the reality of Spearman's Law.