Common tongue: The impact of language on economic performance

Tarun Jain

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: This paper investigates the impact of language on economic performance. I use the 1956 reorganization of Indian states on linguistic lines as a natural experiment to estimate the impact of speaking the majority language on educational and occupational outcomes. I find that districts that spoke the majority language of the state during colonial times enjoy persistent economic benefits, as evidenced by higher educational achievement and employment in communication intensive sectors. After reorganization, historically minority language districts experience greater growth in educational achievement, indicating that reassignment could reverse the impact of history.

Keywords: Language; Communication costs; Education; Occupational choice; Reorganization of Indian states (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I20 N95 O15 O43 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011-11-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cwa, nep-edu, nep-his, nep-lab and nep-ure
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pra:mprapa:34423

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