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Notes -
The benefits of having lots of smart people compound slowly, and there are many factors militating against Israel - surrounded by relatively poor, hostile countries, a cultural standoffishness towards the rest of the world, a relatively low population, substantial amounts of that population sinking their time into scripture-gazing, and their position requiring them to spend a lot of their capital on military defense. It's unappealing as a destination for economic investment because of their controversies. The fact that they achieved what is a relatively high level of prosperity in the face of these headwinds is actually very impressive.
But I also think it's a trap to assume that high IQ is sufficient for economic success. There are plenty of high-IQ societies across the planet who, by historical contingency, were stymied - it is not any deficiency of intellect that holds the people of North Korea or Mongolia back.
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