Chapter 7, "Medieval Evolution: How the Ashkenazi Jews Got Their Smarts"
The Ashkenazi Jews—the Jews of Europe—began as a distinct community about 1,200 years ago along the Rhine. The word "Ashkenaz” was the Hebrew name for Germany, so the Ashkenazim are literally “German Jews,” although they later came to inhabit other areas, particularly Poland....
They have had a surprisingly large influence on the world over the past couple of centuries, and they have played an outsized role in science, literature, and entertainment. Might they be smarter than other groups of people? Apparently so. Ashkenazi Jews have the highest IQ of any ethnic group known. They average around 112–115, well above the European norm of 100. This fact has social significance, because IQ (as measured by IQ tests and their equivalents, like the Graduate Record Exam [GRE] or the Scholastic Aptitude Test[SAT]) is the best available predictor of success in academic subjects and many jobs.1 Jews are just as successful in such jobs as their tested IQ would predict, and they are hugely overrepresented in those jobs and accomplishments with the highest cognitive demand.
We propose that the Ashkenazi Jews have a genetic advantage in intelligence that arose from natural selection for success in white-collar occupations during their sojourn in northern Europe...
When persecution became a serious problem and the security required for long-distance travel no longer existed, the Ashkenazim increasingly specialized in one occupation, finance, left open to them because of the Christian prohibition of usury. The majority of the Ashkenazim seem to have been moneylenders by 1100, and this pattern continued for severalcenturies.15 Such occupations (trade and finance) had high IQ demands, and we know of no other population that had such a large fraction of cognitively demanding jobs for an extended period...
The Ashkenazi Jews were thus spared malnutrition and occasional famine. This helped Jewish populations recover from their losses due to persecution; it may have affected selective pressures as well.
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Ironically, persecution caused the Ashkenazim to develop high average IQs.
Although money lending is necessary for commerce, it is not the way to make friends. People do not like to need to borrow money. They do not like to need to pay it back. This explains the persecution of European Jews that JoeB131 likes to gloat about.
The Ashkenazi Jews—the Jews of Europe—began as a distinct community about 1,200 years ago along the Rhine. The word "Ashkenaz” was the Hebrew name for Germany, so the Ashkenazim are literally “German Jews,” although they later came to inhabit other areas, particularly Poland....
They have had a surprisingly large influence on the world over the past couple of centuries, and they have played an outsized role in science, literature, and entertainment. Might they be smarter than other groups of people? Apparently so. Ashkenazi Jews have the highest IQ of any ethnic group known. They average around 112–115, well above the European norm of 100. This fact has social significance, because IQ (as measured by IQ tests and their equivalents, like the Graduate Record Exam [GRE] or the Scholastic Aptitude Test[SAT]) is the best available predictor of success in academic subjects and many jobs.1 Jews are just as successful in such jobs as their tested IQ would predict, and they are hugely overrepresented in those jobs and accomplishments with the highest cognitive demand.
We propose that the Ashkenazi Jews have a genetic advantage in intelligence that arose from natural selection for success in white-collar occupations during their sojourn in northern Europe...
When persecution became a serious problem and the security required for long-distance travel no longer existed, the Ashkenazim increasingly specialized in one occupation, finance, left open to them because of the Christian prohibition of usury. The majority of the Ashkenazim seem to have been moneylenders by 1100, and this pattern continued for severalcenturies.15 Such occupations (trade and finance) had high IQ demands, and we know of no other population that had such a large fraction of cognitively demanding jobs for an extended period...
The Ashkenazi Jews were thus spared malnutrition and occasional famine. This helped Jewish populations recover from their losses due to persecution; it may have affected selective pressures as well.
-----------
Ironically, persecution caused the Ashkenazim to develop high average IQs.
Although money lending is necessary for commerce, it is not the way to make friends. People do not like to need to borrow money. They do not like to need to pay it back. This explains the persecution of European Jews that JoeB131 likes to gloat about.
