The Effects of Spanish-Language Background on Completed Schooling and Aptitude Test Scores

Luis Locay (), Tracy Regan () and Arthur Diamond ()
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Luis Locay: Department of Economics, University of Miami
Tracy Regan: Department of Economics, University of Miami

No 710, Working Papers from University of Miami, Department of Economics

Abstract: We investigate the eect of speaking Spanish at home as a child on completed schooling and aptitude test scores using data on Hispanics who grew up in the U.S. from the NLSY79. We model the accumulation of traditional human capital and English uency, leading to the joint determination of schooling and test scores. We nd that speaking Spanish at home reduces test scores but has no signi cant eect on completed schooling. The reduction in test scores is more dramatic the higher the education of the parents and when the choice of home language is endogenous.

Keywords: Hispanics; language; aptitude; ability; NLSY79 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I20 J15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
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http://moya.bus.miami.edu/~tregan/SpanishLanguage.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: The Effects of Spanish-Language Background on Completed Schooling and Aptitude Test Scores (2008)
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Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:mia:wpaper:0710

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