http://www.nfc.co.il/archive/001-D-77164-00.html?tag...

Israel is considered one of the riskiest places in the Western world, with an unstable, inefficient regime, low accountability, a relatively high rate of state corruption and poor law enforcement,`` BDI said, based on the World Bank report. BDI economists noted that the low indices hamper foreign investment, raise risk premiums on financial markets and hurt resource allocation

http://www.global-report.net/a.php?c=msharon&a=9...

_

http://www.amren.com/mtnews/archives/2006/03/germans...
re_bra.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Lynn

His conclusions are that the East Asians (Chinese, Japanese and Koreans) have the highest mean IQ at 105. These are followed by the Europeans (IQ 100). Some way below these are the Inuit (Eskimos) (IQ 91), South East Asians (IQ 87), Native American Indians (IQ 87), Pacific Islanders (IQ 85), South Asians and North Africans (IQ 84). Well below these come the sub-Saharan Africans (IQ 67) followed by the Australian Aborigines (IQ 62). The least intelligent races are the Bushmen of the Kalahari desert together with the Pygmies of the Congo rain forests (IQ 54).

I send you information about the cross-national studies on European nations' average IQ by Prof. Richard Lynn, University of Ulster, Ireland
http://www.amren.com/mtnews/archives/2006/03/germans...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Lynn

As you mentioned - where I noted the ''strange'' case (in this context) of the rapid growth of the Irish economy - there may be other important factors, and IQ measurements in themselves may be to some degree questionable, regarding issues like cultural dependence. Nevertheless, Intelligence Quotient within certain limits, has yet rather high predictive power regarding economic growth and other performance criteria.

Please note that two nations, The Turks and Serbs - involved in genocide - are the lowest in the list (You immediately noted this - concerning the Serbs). The Romanians assume a stereotype of highly dishonest and ''thieves'' with high corruption level. The lowest 3 nations are economically inefficient. And also, as sometimes noted, ''power-oriented'', tending often not to ask ''what is the quality of this thing or creation'' but rather, ''Is the man behind this - weak or strong'' and ''How many divisions are behind him'', the way Stalin ''asked'' about the Pope (''How many divisions the Pope has?''..)

I believe though that my extensive research on Divided Attention (Doing two or more things at once) and complex tasks, may be a complementary factor.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/9651600845/qid=9989...

This work may not has yet gained the appropriate attention, since in the institute where I conducted my study (1980-1991, on about 700 subjects; together with other pioneering studies), I was ''forced'' , contradictory to the common practice, to write my text in Hebrew (after I had already written 60 pages in English). I am about to translate the rest and update the book, when I find time.