Race and IQ

Bell Curve author Charles Murray and James Flynn debated the Black/White IQ gap at the American Enterprise Institute. Flynn was basically arguing that the gap was not genetic. I watched a video of the debate and was amazed at how poor Flynn's argument was. I have done zero research on this issue but Flynn's poor performance caused me to wonder if there was much serious statistical support for his position.

Apparently there is. Here is a paper co-authored by Freakonomics writer Steven Levitt which claims that the difference between measured black and white IQs are almost entirely due to environmental factors.

It would be truly horrible for free markets supporters such as myself if it turned out that there was a genetic intelligence difference between blacks and whites. For example, free markets supporters strongly believe that the reason black children do, on average, poorly in school is because of low quality public schools in inner cities. To improve the school system we believe in vouchers and school choice.

In contrast, public school officials claim that they are doing the best they can with the material they have. If there really were a genetic difference in intelligence between blacks and whites then the public schools might have a decent argument. But if the difference is environmental then free market advocates are right to claim that the public school system is at fault and so needs to be challenged by private school competition.