Literacy Versus Ethnicity as a Proxy for National IQ

Abstract

This study converts literacy rates into IQ scores based on their relationship in countries for which both measures are available; and, validates the same for countries for which direct measurements of National IQ are not available. Two tests are performed: the first for the period 2009-2012 (using Lynn and Meisenberg’s IQ data), and the second for the period 2013-2016 (using Altinok, Angrist and Patrinos’ Scholastic Achievement data). In both tests, the literacy rate-based IQ scores outperform Lynn and Vanhanen’s ethnicity-based interpolations of National IQ in explaining GDP per capita. Indeed, the literacy-based IQ scores reduce the explanatory power of the ethnicity-based IQ scores to marginal significance. These results question the continued use of ethnicity-based IQ data in transnational studies.