Language knowledge and earnings in Catalonia

Antonio Di Paolo and Josep Lluís Raymond
Additional contact information
Josep Lluís Raymond: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

Journal of Applied Economics, 2012, vol. 15, 89-118

Abstract: This paper represents the first contribution that investigates the economic value of Catalan knowledge in terms of earnings, focusing on national and foreign first- and second-generation immigrants in Catalonia. Specifically, drawing on data from the Survey on Living Conditions and Habits of the Catalan Population (2006), we quantify the expected earnings differential between individuals who are proficient in Catalan and those who are not, taking into account the potential endogeneity between knowledge of Catalan and earnings. The results indicate the existence of a positive return to knowledge of Catalan, with a 7.5% increase in earnings estimated by OLS. When we account for the presence of endogeneity, monthly earnings are around 18% higher for individuals who are able to speak and write Catalan. We also find that language and education are complementary inputs for generating earnings in Catalonia, given that knowledge of Catalan increases monthly earnings only for more educated individuals.

Keywords: language; earnings; immigrants; endogeneity; complementarity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C31 J24 J61 J79 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (65)

Downloads: (external link)
https://ucema.edu.ar/publicaciones/download/volume15/paolo.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cem:jaecon:v:15:y:2012:n:1:p:89-118

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Applied Economics is currently edited by Germán Coloma and Mariana Conte Grand and Jorge M. Streb

More articles in Journal of Applied Economics from Universidad del CEMA Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Valeria Dowding ().