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Notes -
There’s a dissident right talking point that China essentially brute-forced development by having a highly above-average IQ population. This is quite self-serving, I think @DaseindustriesLtd has commented on it before, but it goes something like this:
It is a little questionable for Indian rightists to believe with minimal evidence that they are great cognitive elites unfairly shackled to 900 million dumdums. They might still be right, of course.
One other thought I’ve had, based solely on personal experiences:
Stagnant developing countries often have elites who are, broadly speaking, satisfied with their lot. Brazilians and Mexicans, Indians, Russians, even South Africans. The 99th percentile are usually relatively happy and comfortable and, in my limited experience, don’t really want much more than they have. Often inequality is so high in these places that the 99th percentile live as well as the 99th percentile in most of the West (if not better due to cheaper labor). They have that European tendency to be quite satisfied. By contrast, Vietnamese, Indonesians and Malaysians, Chinese and Central Asians, remind me more of Americans. They always want more than they have, no matter how much that is. Perhaps elite greed is underestimated. Indians may be personally ambitious (see their success in Silicon Valley), but in India proper, as long as life seems good, they’re often quite relaxed about things. I will always recall the wife of a Chinese centimillionaire crying and screaming in front of me because her daughter, my friend, was rejected from a moderately prestigious (charity!) internship (she got several others). My Indian friends all wanted to go to Harvard or Stanford, sure, but as long as they did something that could lead to a decently-paid job their parents didn’t freak out if they didn’t get in.
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