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I usually avoid discussions on this sort of topic, but will note that I read a book in the 1970s by Ernest Van Den Haag claiming that the median IQ for Ashkenazis was about one standard deviation (15 or 16 points, depending on how the particular test is scaled) higher than the median score for the general population. He speculated that this may have been caused by the tendency of bright but poor Catholic boys to enter the priesthood, and be subject to vows of celibacy, in contrast with bright but poor Jewish boys, who were encouraged to become rabbis, and have large families.
My own suspision is that for a variety of historical reasons, that Ashakenazis were more likely than the average European to live in urban environments. A lot of professions that lead to more opportunities to accumulate wealth are best practiced in cities. Periodic pogroms that poorer, more vulnerable members of the community were less likely to survive may have also played a role here. The absence of a religious prohibition on charging interest probably led to higher Jewish representation in financial occupations; restrictions on land ownership probably led to lower Jewish representation in agricultural occupations. The correlation between IQ score and having parents who are urban professionals is no doubt higher than the correlation between IQ and membership in any ethnic group.
None of the academics who study IQ would agree with the assertion that "IQ levels have nothing to do with nurture".
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