It's far from clear that the Jewish income advantage relative to IQ stems from culture, rather than from other cognitive traits. For example, while IQ is useful as a category, it can be further broken down into by ability. Ashkenazi Jews famously have average or slightly below average spatial reasoning, meaning that while the have the highest average IQs, they're particularly extraordinary in areas like verbal and mathematical reasoning. If these cognitive abilities are more predictive of income than spatial reasoning, then we'd expect IQ to underpredict Ashkenazi income. See this article, which makes this point: https://nonzionism.com/i/148684644/what-is-g.
This is just an illustration of how cognitive abilities that predict income aren't limited to IQ, and that there's therefore less reason to assume cultural factors are at play. Indeed, Jews vary quite a bit culturally, as do members of other religions. For that reason, using religion as a predictor for culture may be too crude to be very informative.
More broadly, it's probably reductive to contrast IQ and achievement-oriented culture, if the former is meant to stand in for natural traits and the latter for environmental influence, since personality traits are themselves at least partially natural, just as IQ is.
Bryan, I am curious whether the findings about IQ/achievement culture apply to all Jews or whether there is a material difference between Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews? I have always been struck by the overwhelming prevelance of Ashkenazi names in Jewish Nobel Prize winners, for example. I also think I have seen studies finding that there is a material IQ difference between the sub-groups. Any comments? (I also know that, among Jews, there is a large perceived difference, in both achievement and ethics, between the two sub-groups.)
What would one do without a study, or graphs, or analysis that have been undisputed or challenged on which to base an argument? Does higher IQ lead to better ethics and morality? If the Khmer Rouge had some high IQ types were they advising Pol Pot? Did Hitler have an above average IQ? Who around him did? Goring? Who in the U.S.National Democratic Party leadership is high IQ? Hillary Clinton?
It's far from clear that the Jewish income advantage relative to IQ stems from culture, rather than from other cognitive traits. For example, while IQ is useful as a category, it can be further broken down into by ability. Ashkenazi Jews famously have average or slightly below average spatial reasoning, meaning that while the have the highest average IQs, they're particularly extraordinary in areas like verbal and mathematical reasoning. If these cognitive abilities are more predictive of income than spatial reasoning, then we'd expect IQ to underpredict Ashkenazi income. See this article, which makes this point: https://nonzionism.com/i/148684644/what-is-g.
This is just an illustration of how cognitive abilities that predict income aren't limited to IQ, and that there's therefore less reason to assume cultural factors are at play. Indeed, Jews vary quite a bit culturally, as do members of other religions. For that reason, using religion as a predictor for culture may be too crude to be very informative.
More broadly, it's probably reductive to contrast IQ and achievement-oriented culture, if the former is meant to stand in for natural traits and the latter for environmental influence, since personality traits are themselves at least partially natural, just as IQ is.
Incidentally, Arnold, or Dr. Kling, for those of us not on a first name basis with him, quotes some seemingly quite incorrect ideas about the role of the culture on Ashkeazi and European economic development, as I note here: https://arnoldkling.substack.com/p/on-the-2025-economics-nobel-laureates/comment/166996075.
The link in "In the NLSY, I’ve found" is broken.
Bryan, I am curious whether the findings about IQ/achievement culture apply to all Jews or whether there is a material difference between Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews? I have always been struck by the overwhelming prevelance of Ashkenazi names in Jewish Nobel Prize winners, for example. I also think I have seen studies finding that there is a material IQ difference between the sub-groups. Any comments? (I also know that, among Jews, there is a large perceived difference, in both achievement and ethics, between the two sub-groups.)
Cremieux discusses this here: https://www.aporiamagazine.com/i/139973791/the-psychometric-measurement-of-jewish-ability-in-israel and this updated paywalled article: https://www.cremieux.xyz/p/updated-estimates-of-iqs-within-israel.
What would one do without a study, or graphs, or analysis that have been undisputed or challenged on which to base an argument? Does higher IQ lead to better ethics and morality? If the Khmer Rouge had some high IQ types were they advising Pol Pot? Did Hitler have an above average IQ? Who around him did? Goring? Who in the U.S.National Democratic Party leadership is high IQ? Hillary Clinton?