A recent line of research demonstrates that cognitive skills - intelligence quotient scores, math skills, and the like - have only a modest influence on individual wages, but are strongly correlated with national outcomes. Is this largely due to human capital spillovers? This paper argues that...

It is now well established that highly developed countries tend to score well on measures of social capital and have higher levels of generalized trust. In turn, the willingness to trust has been shown to be correlated with various social and environmental factors (e.g. institutions, culture) on...

A recent line of research demonstrates that cognitive skills - IQ scores, math skills, and the like -have only modest influence on individual wages, but are strongly correlated with national outcomes. It this largely due to human capital spillovers? This paper argues that the answer is yes. It...

We provide evidence that individuals selected from societies with high human capital are more likely to cooperate when placed in an environment comparable to the state of nature: The world of New York City diplomatic parking. National average IQ, a robust predictor of economic growth, is found...

Differences in worker skill cause modest differences in wages within a country, but are associated with massive differences in productivity across countries (Hanushek and Kimko, 2000). I build upon Kremer’s (1993) O-ring theory of production to explain this stylized fact. I posit that there...

It is now well established that highly developed countries tend to score well on measures of social capital and have higher levels of generalized trust. In turn, the willingness to trust has been shown to be correlated with various social and environmental factors (e.g. institutions, culture) on...

It is now well established that highly developed countries tend to score well on measures of social capital and have higher levels of generalized trust. In turn, the willingness to trust has been shown to be correlated with various social and environmental factors (e.g. institutions, culture) on...

Is human capital a robust predictor of good institutions? Using a new institutional quality measure, the International Property Rights Index (IPRI), we find that cognitive skill measures are significant, robust, and large in magnitude. We use two databases of cognitive skills: estimates of...