 What is the problem with using IQ to predict economic success?
IQ tests, according to Murray and Herrnstein, measure an essential human quality, general intelligence. Because intelligence is substantially inherited, nothing is likely to reverse this process. The notion that IQ tests are completely useless never prevailed in liberal academia to nearly the extent that Herrnstein and Murray say. High scorers on mental tests do "bunch up" (as Herrnstein and Murray put it) in elite-university student bodies. Proving The Bell Curve 's thesis would require proving that success increasingly correlates with IQ in areas of life where mental tests are not the explicit gatekeepers. Having conditioned its audience to view IQ as all-important, The Bell Curve then manipulates statistics in a way that makes IQ look bigger, and everything else smaller, in determining Americans' life-chances.
 IQ tests are impacted by the amount of education a person has had
 IQ tests are not aimed at people of all races  IQ tests are impacted by the amount of education a person has had  IQ tests aren't all the same, so it's not a fair control  IQ tests only test inherited intelligence