In the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, Eppig's paper argues that national intelligence is correlated negatively with the national rate of infectious disease. Support is provided by correlation and linear modelling techniques. The graph shows the position of countries included in the study in terms of disease burden and national IQ level.
Like all other hypotheses for causation, these proposals must be taken with a grain of salt. Further studies must be done to establish causation, such as by longitudinal studies on the rate of infectious disease over time.
It has been previously theorized that national differences on intelligence may explain the differences in economic development of rich and poor countries. Now, policymakers is provided some evidence that lack of development itself, e.g., inadequate social welfare and health provisions, may explain the difference in intelligence.
read full article: Eppig, C. et al. 2010. Parasite prevalence and the worldwide distribution of cognitive ability
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