Exploring Trends in Cognitive Abilities between 2007-2015 in India's Adult Population - Evidence of the Flynn Effect

Aayushma KC, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)

There has been abundant evidence regarding improvements in cognitive abilities throughout the 20th century, known as the Flynn Effect. However, most of the research has focused on high income counties, with limited evidence available from low-and-middle income countries. This paper looks to explore such trends in India, the largest lower-middle income country holding over 17% of the world's population. The nationally representative sample of the World Health Organization Study on AGEing is used to explore the effect of sex, age, time and education on cognitive abilities as measured by the tests of digit span, verbal fluency, and verbal recall. Descriptive analyses as well as a multiple linear regression analyses with ten-year age groups, sex, two waves, and level of education as dummy variables will be conducted for each of the three cognitive abilities measurements. While age showed a typical negative relationship and education showed a positive relationship with cognitive abilities in the preliminary findings, data from wave 2, collected in 2015 outperformed data from wave 1, collected in 2007, throughout most groups. These findings give evidence of the Flynn Effect in India. This paper will have wide-reaching implications for India’s growing human capital calling for deeper research in this area.

Keywords: Human Capital, Education, and Work

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