Wednesday, July 07, 2010

IQ, Parasites, and GDP

Steve Sailer looks at the paper, Parasite prevalence and the worldwide distribution of cognitive ability.

The Economist reports on the paper, from the perspective that the prevalence of parasites in different regions causes variations in population IQ. Energy used to fight off parasites isn't available to build brain cells.

But which is cart, and which is horse?

Could smarter people have moved to places with fewer parasites, or developed sanitation programs that reduce the number of infections?

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