Why is Donald Trump richer than you? Maybe because he’s smarter. “I know that some of you may think I’m tough and harsh but actually I’m a very compassionate person (with a very high IQ) with strong common sense,” he tweeted Sunday. Modesty aside, experts say he may have a point.

www.trump.com

Billionaires are among the world’s cleverest people, according to new research. In “Investigating America’s Elite,” Jonathan Wai, 33, a research scientist in psychology and member of Duke University’s Talent Identification Program, looked at the correlation between wealth and brains — or at least, brains as measured by education. Some 45% of billionaires rank among the smartest 1% of people in the U.S., the study found. Other groups with high representation in the smartest set: U.S. Senators (41%), federal judges (40%), and Fortune 500 CEOs (39%).

Wai looked at five groups of America’s business and political elite, totaling 2,254 subjects. The majority of Fortune 500 CEOs, federal judges, billionaires, senators and members of the House of Representatives had attended either a selective undergraduate institution or graduate school, Wai’s research found. And if they attended one of the 29 “elite colleges,” they were considered to be among the top 1%. Wai chose the schools based on their average SAT scores and American College Test scores, as tracked by the “U.S. News & World Report.” Average SAT scores of 1400 or greater — a combined score on the math and critical reading sections — put a school in the top 1%, he says.

Are billionaires smarter than you?

Equating intelligence by educational background, of course, is an approach that even Wai admits has its flaws, and it’s one that author Steve Siebold disagrees with. In fact, Seibold, 48, author of “How Rich People Think,” says formal education has nothing to do with building wealth. A former professional tennis player who coaches Fortune 500 executives on mental toughness, Seibold has been interviewing multi-millionaires and billionaires since college, and he says many of the world’s wealthiest people have little or no formal education.

MarketWatch played moderator while Siebold and Wai went head-to-head. Here is an edited version of that conversation:

MarketWatch: So billionaires are smarter? Donald Trump seems to think so.

Wai: If you add in the graduate school percentages, 83% of senators are among the top 1%.

MarketWatch: Steve, you disagree.

Siebold: This is based on a faulty premise. If I have a lot of money, I can get into one of the country’s elite schools. Family connections are a big part of attending colleges too. George W. Bush got into Yale. I’d love to see him get into Yale without the Bush name. I say that after 29 years interviewing the 1,200 wealthiest people in the world. I was broke and I wanted to be rich. I just wanted to follow the wealthy so I could be one of them. I found that anyone can be rich if they can find a problem and solve it.

Wai: A lot of researchers have found that standardized tests like the SATs measure empirical intelligence. Average test scores are a pretty good indicator of the people who go to that school. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg got into Harvard because of their high SAT scores, even though they later dropped out.

And Donald Trump?

Wai: We’d need to look at where he went to college.

MarketWatch: Trump attended Fordham University in New York — and Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, which is ranked No. 16 on Jonathan’s list of elite colleges.

Steve Siebold

Siebold: The biggest thing about Trump is that he’s a very driven guy. His ability to sustain focus on a business project has nothing to do with taking tests. I’ve interviewed eighth grade dropouts that are multi, multi-millionaires. What about college professors at Duke or Yale or Harvard -- why aren’t most of those people rich?

Wai: I think that’s an excellent point. A lot of college professors are an exception because the system does not reward them. But the business world requires a high education level.

MarketWatch: Steve, what do you think creates billionaires?

Siebold: In terms of what separates the wealthy from the average person, it starts with their beliefs about money. Guys like Trump and other rich people tend to have positive beliefs about money. The average person tends to believe that rich people are narcissists. America wouldn’t exist without rich people.

Wai: They’re not necessarily after money. They want to build something. Tech billionaires and those who made their money from investments seem to be the smartest of all.

MarketWatch: To become a billionaire, is going to an exclusive college something one must do?

Wai: Not at all. There is a difference between what is possible and what is probable. Cognitive ability increases the chances of going to an elite school.

Siebold: I think your measure of intelligence has to be solid.

Wai: The SATs are pretty solid. Previous research has shown that SAT and ACT measure general intelligence to a large degree. I’m looking at average test scores. They are a pretty good indicator of the people who go to those schools. The math and verbal portions have a high predictability in terms of later life success.

MarketWatch: How important is emotional intelligence? President Obama, who went to Columbia University and Harvard Law School, was recently criticized for not rolling up his sleeves and engaging senators one-on-one to pass his gun control legislation.

Wai: I agree.

Siebold: That’s more about social skills. I’m more interested in how successful people use their use their emotions to work long hours that no rational human being would work and take chances that no ordinary person would take.

MarketWatch: Jonathan, in your research males were more highly represented as CEOs (28.3 males for every 1 female), billionaires (7.8 to 1), House members (4.4 to 1), senators (4.0 to 1), and judges (2.3 to 1). Why do you think that is?

Jonathan Wai

Wai: I have no idea. I report the statistics and I step away. Of the 500 CEOs I looked at, only 17 were female. They had to be smarter and attend a more prestigious school than their male counterparts. It’s not right, but it’s the way it is unfortunately.

Siebold: It’s beyond the scope of my research. One possible reason: Discrimination. Female executives are accepted publicly as equals, but not in the minds of a lot of people in business.

(See: Why Margaret Thatchers outnumber Marissa Mayers)

MarketWatch: Democrats appear to have a higher ability and education level than Republicans, according to Jonathan’s research. Does that surprise you?

Wai: Other research reports that.

Siebold: Formal education tends to produce more liberally minded people. I would guess that the Republicans would be far wealthier as a group.

MarketWatch: Of all America’s billionaires, whom do you most admire?

Wai: Sean Parker — co-founder of file-sharing site Napster and first president of Facebook — would be among my top tech billionaires. He never went to college, but he was a child programming prodigy.

Siebold: Richard DeVos — owner of the Orlando Magic NBA basketball team — was the most inspiring for me because of the guts it took him to do what he did and opposition he faced, and failures he had. He’s also one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met in my life.

MarketWatch: You appear to fundamentally disagree on how intelligence is measured.

Wai: Steve has a database and anecdotal stories that I don’t have.

Siebold: And you’ve got more of the research.

MarketWatch: I was going to say why can’t we all just get along. But it turns out we can.