JSPES, Vol. 38, No. 1 (Spring 2013)
pp. 3-15

Differences in National IQs behind the Eurozone Debt Crisis?

Tatu Vanhanen

Department of Political Science, University of Helsinki

The purpose of this article is to explore the causes of the European eurozone’s serious debt crisis from one particular perspective. The idea is to clarify to what extent the eurocrisis might be causally related to the fact that the average intelligence (national IQ) of the six crisis countries seems to be clearly lower than the average intelligence of the 11 other euro countries. Besides, it does not seem to be an accident that five of the six crisis countries are Mediterranean countries whose populations are biologically partly mixed with immigrants from the Middle East and North Africa. This paper focuses on the role of the Mediterranean countries. It is hypothesized that because of their slightly lower national IQs, the Mediterranean countries have not been able to manage their economic policies as well as the countries with higher national IQs. More intelligent nations have usually been able to manage their affairs better than less intelligent nations. The hypothesis is tested by comparing the relationship between the level of national IQ and several other measures of human conditions both in the group of the 17 eurocountries and in the total world groups of countries. The results of comparisons as well as correlations in the same groups of countries support the hypothesis. Consequently, it is concluded that the clear difference in the national IQs between the six crisis countries and 11 other euro countries is a factor that has contributed to the emergence of eurozone’s debt crisis.