An inquiry into the relationship between intelligence and prosocial behavior: Evidence from Swedish population registers

Mikael Elinder and Oscar Erixson

The Economic Journal, 2025, vol. 135, issue 668, 1141-1166

Abstract: We investigate the relationship between intelligence and prosocial behaviour, using administrative data on cognitive ability, charitable giving, voting and possession of eco-friendly cars for 1.2 million individuals. We find strong positive associations for all three behaviours, which remain when using twin-pair fixed effects to account for confounders. We also find that general (fluid) intelligence is a stronger predictor than other dimensions of cognitive ability, and that most of the relationship remains after controlling for a set of mediators, suggesting a direct impact on prosocial behaviour. Finally, we show that cognitive ability is also positively related to a survey measure of altruism.

Date: 2025
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