Having Smart Neighbors Could Mean a Higher Income for You邻居越聪明，你的收入可能越高

译/王丹怡

众所周知，智力对于个人而言非常重要，它会影响个人在学习、工作和生活中的表现。几十年来的研究都证明了这一点。但如果你的个人智力水平和你所在国的国民平均智力水平相比，并不那么重要呢？这就是乔治梅森大学的经济学家加雷特·琼斯在他的新书《蜂群思维：国家智商为何比个体智商更重要》中所说的“智商悖论”。

[2]琼斯是在和同事W.乔尔·施耐德研究智商和收入间的联系时发现的这个悖论。在一国范围内，智商（IQ）和收入间的关联并不是很紧密。智商每高一个点，人均收入仅多1%。但在不同国家，同样是智商指数高一个点，人均收入多出6%。为什么在预测最终收入时，国家智商会比个人智商更重要呢？这个问题使得琼斯开始探寻一些可能的原因，以及这一悖论的潜在影响。

We know that intelligence matters at the level of the individual, impacting performance in school, work,and life. Decades of research supports that point. But what if your personal intelligence level doesn’t matter as much as the average level of intelligence of the country in which you live? This is what economist Garett Jones of George Mason University calls the “paradox of IQ1=Intelligence Quotient，智商。” in his new book Hive Mind:How Your Nation’s IQ Matters So Much More Than Your Own.

[2] Jones discovered this paradox when researching the link between IQ and income with his colleague W. Joel Schneider. Within a country, the link between IQ and income appears modest2modest（数量、比率）不太高的，适中的。,with one IQ point predicting 1% higher income per person. But across countries, that same IQ point predicts 6%higher income per person. Why would it be that the IQ of the country you live in matters more than your individual IQ for predicting eventual income? This led Jones on a quest to3on a quest to寻求。explore some of the reasons why this might be, and potential implications of this paradox,discussed in detail in his new book.

[3] In an interview, Jones told Quartz4美国新闻网站。,“If something appears to matter more for a nation than it does for an individual,that something may well be causing positive side effects.” He described three key paths that may generate positive side effects: the links between IQ and patience, cooperation, and team performance. A fourth path, the productivity of those around you, multiplies the impact of the other three. All these paths are supported by research studies spanning psychology, economics, management,and political science, specifically large research syntheses or meta-analyses.

[3]在接受Quartz杂志网采访时，琼斯表示：“如果某事对国家的影响比对个人更大，那么这件事很可能会产生积极的副作用。”他描述了三种可能产生这种作用的关键途径，智商与耐心、合作以及团队表现分别建立的联系。第四个途径是你周围的人的生产率，这一途径极大地强化了前三者的影响。这些途径都有调查研究的支持，相关研究涉及心理学、经济学、管理学和政治学，特别是大范围的综合研究和元分析。

智力越高，越有耐心

[4]越聪明的人越有耐心、越愿意延迟满足、等待回报。诺亚·萨莫什和杰里米·格雷的元分析支持了这一观点。琼斯这样解释其中的联系：“当你更有耐心的时候，你就会存更多（钱），其中一部分钱很有可能会留在你的国家。因此，储蓄率高的国家可能拥有更多资金用于商业投资。如果你的左邻右舍更有耐心的话，你以后就可以向他们借钱。”

Intelligence predicts greater patience

[4] Smarter people are more likely to be more patient, delaying gratification and being willing to wait for rewards.A meta-analysis by Noah Shamosh and Jeremy Gray supports this point. Here’s how Jones explains the link: “When you’re more patient you save more[money], and some of that money has a tendency to stay in your home country.So nations with high savings rates tend to have more funds available for busi-ness investment. If you have more patient neighbors, you’ll be able to borrow some of their money down the road.”

智力越高，亲社会行为越多

[5]一项由苏迪普·夏尔玛、威廉·波顿和希拉里·艾尔芬拜因进行的元分析发现，智力越高的人们往往更多倾向于双赢、做大蛋糕和亲社会的行为。琼斯解释道∶“我们需要的是那些能够与别国签订协议而不是发动战争的政治领导人，需要的是想办法做大经济蛋糕、而不是为了稍微一点利益争得头破血流的领导人。政客们很少能从合作中收获大部分好处：因为大多数的好处会遍及全国各地……在许多社会环境中（并非全部），聪明的群体都更具合作精神。我们推测这其中的一个原因就是他们更有耐心。更有耐心的人更在意自己的名誉，更关心从建立合作规范中获得的长期收益。”

智力越高，团队表现越好

[6]一项由丹尼斯·迪瓦恩和珍妮弗·菲利普斯进行的元分析检测了在实验室和真实工作环境下的团队智商和生产率，结果发现团队的平均智商是对团队表现的一个相当好的预测指标。琼斯解释说∶“从很大程度上说，经济是一个团队努力的结果，无论这个团队是同一家公司的员工、供应链上合作的不同企业、当然还有努力建设健康经济的政界人士和官员……既然大部分经济价值是在团队工作中产生的，例如工程公司、医院的手术室、好莱坞大片，那么任何能够提高团队生产率的因素很可能对经济的整体健康也非常重要。”

Intelligence predicts more pro-social behavior

[5] A meta-analysis by Sudeep Sharma, William Bottom, and Hillary Elfenbein found that higher intelligence predicted greater win-win, pie-growing5grow the pie是宏观经济学中的一个概念，意为发展一国的整体经济，以创造更多财富和就业机会。,pro-social behavior. Jones explains, “We need political leaders who cut deals6cut a deal达成协议。rather than start wars, who find ways to grow the economic pie rather than battle over a slightly larger slice. And politicians rarely reap most of the benefits of cooperation: Most of the benefits spill over to the whole nation…In many social settings, but not all, intelligent groups are more cooperative. One reason we’d predict smarter groups to be more cooperative is because they tend to be more patient. And more patient people care more about their reputations, they care more about the long-run benefits that come from building a norm of cooperation.”

Intelligence predicts greater team performance

[6] A meta-analysis by Dennis Devine and Jennifer Philips examining team IQ and productivity in both lab and real work settings found that the average IQ of a team was a reasonably good predictor of team performance. Jones explains, “Much of the economy is a team effort, whether the team is workers in a firm, different businesses collaborating along a supply chain, or of course politicians and bureaucrats trying to build a healthy economy…Since team tasks are where so much of our economy’s value is created—in engineering firms, in hospital operating rooms, in Hollywood blockbusters7blockbuster轰动一时的电影；一度热卖的畅销书。—anything that enhances team productivity probably matters a lot for the economy’s overall health.”

你周围的人生产率越高，你自己工作也会更有效率

[7]最后，丹尼尔·赫布斯特和亚历山大·麦斯在实验室和实地环境下进行了一项全新的元分析，发现如果你的同事的工作效率提高10%，你的工作效率应该会随之提高1.2%。琼斯解释说：“我们的工作表现往往是由我们的同事塑造的，至少会受到他们的一点影响，而我们反过来也会影响他们的工作表现。这也是与智商更高的人做邻居的另一个积极效应：他们不仅会存更多的钱、树立合作的榜样，还会设立一个更高的表现标准，供普通人努力看齐，至少是一点点。我们周围的人会影响我们将成为什么样的人。”

If you’re around more productive people, you’ll be more productive yourself

[7] Finally, a brand new meta-analysis by Daniel Herbst and Alexandre Mas looked at both lab and field studies8field study田野调查，实地调查，现场研究。,uncovering that if your coworkers became 10% more productive, that should increase your productivity by 1.2%.Jones explains, “Our work performance is often shaped by our peers, at least a little, and we shape our peers in return.This is yet another side effect of having neighbors with higher test scores:Not only do they save more, not only do they set an example of cooperation,but they also set a higher standard of performance that the average person emulates, at least a little. Those around us shape whom we become.”

[8] So what’s the takeaway9takeaway要点，关键。for the individual? According to Jones, it’s that“being around smart people is more important than you being smart yourself. It means that if you want to raise your long run economic well-being, you should care a lot about your country’s average test scores. The effect is about three times at the cross-country level than at the US state level, so it might not be worth it to move across state lines to get smarter neighbors, but I can’t deter you if you want to move to Singapore, it’s a great place.”

[9] Jones argues that medical and educational research should be directed on how to credibly raise test scores:“It should be a global obsession on the scale of10on the scale of以……的规模，按……比例。cancer research.” Jones acknowledges that he isn’t certain whether it’s the average IQ level of the entire nation or the average IQ level of the smartest people of that nation that matters most for long-run economic health. However, he stresses that many nations should consider how migration may shape their nation’s average test scores in the long run. For example,“The United Arab Emirates and Qatar,for instance, are two of just a handful of nations where migration policy substantially raises national average test scores.That’s a brave thing to do, and it’s a way to shape a more prosperous future.High human capital immigration policies, the kind embraced by Hong Kong and Singapore, tend to make a nation’s economic future brighter. These nations are choosing some of their future citizens, and they’re very likely building a stronger hive mind.” ■

[8]那么对于个人而言，关键是什么呢？根据琼斯的说法，关键就是“和聪明的人在一起比你自己聪明更重要。这意味着如果你想提高长远的经济收益，就应该关心自己国家的平均智商分数。在不同国家间的这种效应大约是在美国各州层面的三倍。因此，跨越州界以期与更聪明的人为邻可能并不值当。但如果你想搬到新加坡去，我也不能阻止你，那的确是个好地方。”

[9]琼斯认为医学和教育研究应该聚焦于如何切实提高智商测试的分数。他说：“对这方面的研究应该要和癌症研究比肩，也成为让全球学者着迷的研究重点。”但琼斯也承认，他并不确定到底是整个国家的平均智商水平，还是这个国家最聪明的人的平均智商水平对经济长期健康的运行更为重要。然而，他强调，许多国家应该考虑移民对平均智商测试分数的长远影响。例如，“在为数不多的几个通过移民政策大幅提高全国平均智商分数的国家中，阿联酋和卡塔尔就是其中两个。这么做需要勇气，这种方式也能让国家的未来更加繁荣。高人力资本移民政策（香港和新加坡所采取的就是这一政策），往往会使一个国家（或地区）的经济前景更加光明。这些国家（或地区）正在选择未来的部分公民进行，他们极有可能构建一个更为强大的蜂群思维。” □