Genetic distance and cognitive human capital: a cross-national investigation

This paper explores the correlates of the intelligence quotient and cognitive ability by focusing on genetic distance to frontier nations. The results based on cross-sectional data from 167 countries suggest that genetic distance to global frontiers has a negative relationship with the employed human capital variables. Countries that are genetically far from leading nations tend to have lower levels of human capital with the negative correlation to the USA frontier averagely higher relative to the UK frontier. The sign is consistent and survives the control of macroeconomic, geographic, institutional and other covariates. Policy implications are discussed. © 2015, Springer Science+Business Media New York.