Linguistic Structures and Economic Outcomes

Linguistic structures have recently started to attract attention from economists as determinants of economic phenomena. This paper provides the first comprehensive review of this nascent literature and its achievements so far. First, we explore the complex connections between language, culture, thought and behaviour. Then, we summarize the empirical evidence on the relationship between linguistic structures and economic and social outcomes. We follow up with a discussion of data, empirical design and identification. The paper concludes by discussing implications for future research and policy

Does Culture Affect Economic Outcomes?

Economists have been reluctant to rely on culture as a possible determinant of economic phenomena. The notion of culture is so broad and the channels through which it can enter the economic discourse so vague that it is difficult to design testable hypotheses. In this paper we show this does need to be the case. We introduce a narrower definition of culture that allows for a simple methodology to develop and test cultural-based explanations. We also present several applications of this methodology: from the choice to become entrepreneur to that of how much to save, to end with the political decision on income redistribution.

Intergenerational transmission of language capital and economic outcomes

This paper investigates the intergenerational transmission of language capital amongst immigrants, and the effect of language deficiencies on the economic performance of second generation immigrants. Using a long panel that oversamples immigrants, we can follow their children after they have left the parental home. Our results show a sizeable significant association between parents’ and children’s fluency, conditional on parental and family characteristics. We find that language deficiencies of the second generation are associated with poorer labour market outcomes for females only. Finally, we find a strong relationship between parental fluency and female labour market outcomes, which works through the child’s language proficiency

Intergenerational transmission of language capital and economic outcomes

This paper investigates the intergenerational transmission of language capital in immigrant communities from one generation to the next, and the effect of language deficiencies on the economic performance of second generation immigrants. Our analysis is based on a long panel that oversamples immigrants and that allows their children to be followed even after they have left the parental home. Our results show a significant and sizeable association between parental language fluency and that of their children, conditional on a rich set of parental and family background characteristics. We also find that language deficiencies of the children of immigrants are associated with poorer labour market outcomes for females, but not for males. There is a strong relationship between parental language fluency and labour market outcomes for females, which works through the child’s language proficiency

Family Background, Self-Confidence and Economic Outcomes

In this paper we analyze the role played by self-confidence, modeled as beliefs about one's ability, in shaping task choices. We propose a model in which fully rational agents exploit all the available information to update their beliefs using Bayes' rule, eventually learning their true type. We show that when the learning process does not convergence quickly to the true ability level, even small differences in initial confidence can result in diverging patterns of human capital accumulation between otherwise identical individuals. As long as inital differences in the level of self-confidence are correlated with the socioeconomic background (as a large body of empirical evidence suggests), self-confidence turns out to be a channel through which education and earnings inequalities are transmitted across generations. Our theory suggests that cognitive tests should take place as early as possible, in order to avoid that systematic differences in self-confidence among equally talented people lead to the emergence of gaps in the accumulation of human capital.self-confidence, family background

Family Background and Economic Outcomes in Japan

There has been increasing concern about the influence of elements of family background on children’s future outcomes in Japan. This paper empirically examines the long-term impact of family background, including sibling composition and parental attributes, and reveals how these elements of Japanese women’s family backgrounds affect their educational attainment and investment, labor market outcomes, family formation, and spousal characteristics.sibling composition, family background, intergenerational correlations, family formation, assortative mating

Partisanship at the Origins of Modern Capitalist Institutions

Analyses that gauge the relationship of partisanship to economic outcomes nearly always focus on the level of partisanship, and changes to it, at a time concurrent to the outcomes. However, partisanship at the time an institution was established may correspond more strongly to modern economic outcomes than contemporary partisanship measures. To test this argument, I develop a measure of partisanship at the time that modern capitalist institutions were created. Tests reveal that this measure correlates more strongly to many modern economic outcomes than more contemporary measures of partisanship, suggesting that other economic outcomes may be usefully reexamined in light of the partisanship that existed when the initial institutional bargains were struck.political economy; financial institutions; economic history; capitalism

Immigration and long-run economic outcomes: a note

The paper sets out a simple growth model that assumes imperfect substitutability between immigrants and native workers and posits technological progress as a necessary by-product of the migration process. The paper explores a much-neglected topic of the long-run impact of immigration on a growing economy. The paper shows that, while the short-run impact of immigration on economic outcomes such as capital-per worker, output-per worker and real wages can be negative, the long-run impact of immigration on these variables is not necessarily always adverse. Much depends on the balance between the labor-augmentation effect and the innovation effect of immigration, influences which often work in opposite directions. The paper demonstrates the crucial role of the parameter values of the innovation elasticity in determining the long-run impact of immigration on wages, capital-labor ratio and per capita income.immigration, wages and technological progress

The Economic Benefits of Education

Provides facts, statistics, a chart, and resources pertaining to the economic outcomes of education