Being smart is stupid

If you're so smart, why aren't you rich? Although money and mental muscles may seem a natural match, brains, alas, may be more hindrance than help when it comes to getting rich, concludes a new study in the journal Intelligence.

"It is still not well understood why some people are rich and others are poor," writes study author Jay Zagorsky of Ohio State University. "Luck, timing, parents, choice of spouse and many other factors play important roles in shaping an individual's circumstances," he acknowledges in his study, which looks for a link between intelligence scores, wages and wealth.

Past analyses have mostly just looked at income, with studies of World War II veterans finding a link between smarts and a better salary. The controversial 1994 book, The Bell Curve, by Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray, went further, arguing that few high-IQ types end up in poverty. Within a few years, that conclusion was later found lacking by Cornell University economist John Cawley and others.