causal

Elite IQ Matters More Than Lower Tail

Within the normal range of variation, the upper tail of IQ matters more for national productivity than the lower tail, because elites generate scientific and intellectual breakthroughs with positive externalities that spill over to the whole world, while crime risk from the lower end is only probabilistic and prosperous nations have tools to limit the influence of the least informed voters.

causalpending

Speaker

Garett Jones

Evidence Quote

It's the people at the top who tend to be coming up with the big scientific breakthroughs, the big intellectual breakthroughs that end up spilling over to the whole world. Basically the positive externalities of innovation.

Source

Garett Jones — Immigration, national IQ, & less democracyDwarkesh Patel Podcast
Created: 6/13/2026, 3:31:19 AM

My Notes

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