Economic Returns to Speaking the Right Language(S)? Evidence from Kazakhstan's Shift in State Language and Language of Instruction

24 Pages Posted: 22 Nov 2014

See all articles by Alisher Aldashev

Alisher Aldashev

ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research

Alexander M. Danzer

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU) - Faculty of Economics; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Abstract

This paper investigates the economic returns to language skills and bilingualism. The analysis is staged in Kazakhstan, a multi-ethnic country with complex ethnic settlement patterns that has switched its official state language from Russian to Kazakh. Using two newly assembled data sets, we find negative returns to speaking Kazakh and a negative effect of bilingualism on earnings while Russian was the official state language in the 1990s. Surprisingly, the Kazakh language continues to yield a negative wage premium 13 years after it has been made official state language.While we do neither find evidence for an ethnically segmented labor market nor for reverse causality, the low economic value of the Kazakh language can be explained by the comparatively poor quality of schools with Kazakh as language of instruction. Based on PISA data, we illustrate that scholastic achievements are substantially lower for pupils taught in Kazakh, despite the official support for the titular language. Our results suggest that switching the official state language without appropriate investments in school resources is unlikely to cure the economic disadvantage of a previously marginalized language.

Keywords: bilingualism, returns to language skills, wage premium, language policy, language of instruction

JEL Classification: J24, I21, P23, O15

Suggested Citation

Aldashev, Alisher and Danzer, Alexander M., Economic Returns to Speaking the Right Language(S)? Evidence from Kazakhstan's Shift in State Language and Language of Instruction. IZA Discussion Paper No. 8624, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2529333 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2529333

Alisher Aldashev (Contact Author)

ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research ( email )

P.O. Box 10 34 43
L 7,1
D-68034 Mannheim, 68034
Germany

Alexander M. Danzer

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU) - Faculty of Economics ( email )

Ludwigstrasse 28
Munich, D-80539
Germany

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
31
Abstract Views
522
PlumX Metrics