Socioeconomic disparity between North and South Italy has been recently explained by Lynn (2010) as the result of a lower intelligence quotient (IQ) of the Southern population. The present article discusses the procedure followed by Lynn, supplementing his data with new information on school...

Can the average intelligence quotient (IQ) of populations be considered the root cause of international development inequalities? Psychologists and some economic studies have proposed the existence of a link between intelligence quotient and economic development. The paper tests this hypothesis,...