http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160289613000263Intelligence
Volume 41, Issue 4, July–August 2013, Pages 203–211
Investigating America's elite: Cognitive ability, education, and sex differences
Jonathan Wai
Duke University, Talent Identification Program, 1121 West Main Street, Durham, NC 27701, United States
Highlights
•Whether America’s elite are drawn from the cognitive elite was investigated.
•CEOs, federal judges, billionaires, Senators, and House members were examined.
•Democrats had a higher education and ability than Republicans in Senate and House.
•Females were underrepresented among all groups, but to varying degrees.
•America’s elite are largely drawn from the intellectually gifted.
Abstract
Are the American elite drawn from the cognitive elite? To address this, five groups of America's elite (total N = 2254) were examined: Fortune 500 CEOs, federal judges, billionaires, Senators, and members of the House of Representatives. Within each of these groups, nearly all had attended college with the majority having attended either a highly selective undergraduate institution or graduate school of some kind. High average test scores required for admission to these institutions indicated those who rise to or are selected for these positions are highly filtered for ability. Ability and education level differences were found across various sectors in which the billionaires earned their wealth (e.g., technology vs. fashion and retail); even within billionaires and CEOs wealth was found to be connected to ability and education. Within the Senate and House, Democrats had a higher level of ability and education than Republicans. Females were underrepresented among all groups, but to a lesser degree among federal judges and Democrats and to a larger degree among Republicans and CEOs. America's elite are largely drawn from the intellectually gifted, with many in the top 1% of ability.
Keywords
Cognitive ability; Education; Wealth; Sex differences; Political party
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Discussed by Steve Hsu at the Information Processing blog:
http://infoproc.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-cognitive-ability-of-us-elites.htmlThe cognitive ability of US elites
Jonathan Wai sends me his latest paper, which reveals (click figure below) that ~ 40% or more of US Fortune 500 CEOs, billionaires, federal judges and Senators attended elite undergraduate or graduate institutions whose median standardized test scores are above (roughly) 99th percentile for the overall US population (i.e., SAT M+CR > 1400). Over 10% of individuals in these categories attended Harvard. (In the table: elite school = top 1% undergrad or MBA/JD from program with top 1% scores; grad school = other graduate education; college = college degree but from non-elite program, and no graduate school.)
This sheds light on the "NYT opinion: No (rich) child left behind" thread. The elites will of course try to boost the careers of their children, but some of the success of their children will result from the high IQ's they inherited from their parents.
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Related article by Wai, the author of the paper cited:
http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/201206/brainiacs-and-billionairesOf Brainiacs and Billionaires
Psychology Today
By Jonathan Wai, published on July 03, 2012
We're obsessed with America's high earners. But in the age of big data, the biggest brains will increasingly set the country's course and become top earners in the process. Meet the other 1 Percent.
