The Return to English in a Non-English Speaking Country: Russian Immigrants and Native Israelis in Israel

Kevin Lang and Siniver Erez ()
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Siniver Erez: College of Management - Academic Studies

The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, 2009, vol. 9, issue 1, 30

Abstract: Using a unique sample of Russian immigrants and native Israelis, we examine the return to English knowledge. Panel and cross-section estimates of the return to English are substantial for highly educated immigrants and natives. Hebrew and English language acquisition contribute to immigrant/native earnings convergence, but most convergence is explained by other factors. While immigrants with low levels of education do not benefit from knowing English, native Israelis may. Conditional on occupation, English and Hebrew acquisition are largely orthogonal. Therefore earlier work on the importance of knowledge of the host-country language (Hebrew) is not significantly biased by unmeasured English knowledge.

Keywords: language; human capital; language/skill complementarity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (45)

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Related works:
Working Paper: THE RETURN TO ENGLISH IN A NON-ENGLISH SPEAKING COUNTRY: RUSSIAN IMMIGRANTS AND NATIVE ISRAELIS IN ISRAEL (2006)
Working Paper: THE RETURN TO ENGLISH IN A NON-ENGLISH SPEAKING COUNTRY: RUSSIAN IMMIGRANTS AND NATIVE ISRAELIS IN ISRAEL (2006)
Working Paper: The Return to English in a Non-English Speaking Country: Russian Immigrants and Native Israelis in Israel (2006)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bpj:bejeap:v:9:y:2009:i:1:n:50

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DOI: 10.2202/1935-1682.2274

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