The role of English language proficiency on immigrants' health and economic integration in the USA

Ibrahim Niankara

International Journal of Economics and Business Research, 2020, vol. 20, issue 3, 255-287

Abstract: This study reports on the role of English language proficiency (ELP) in immigrants' health and economic integration in the USA. Bayesian Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) estimation of a mixed bivariate ordered probit specification of annual earnings and medical care spending is conducted using a representative sample of immigrant families' data from the 2015-2017 US National Health Interview Surveys (NHIS). The results reveal that annually, limited ELP has an increasingly negative impact on immigrants' propensity to earn income (-$44.83, -$50.66 and -$56.97), while simultaneously positively impacting at a decreasing rate their propensity to spend on medical care ($8.09, $6.09 and $4.32). Furthermore, a positive and significant 7.2% correlation coefficient is found between annual earnings and medical care spending propensities, suggesting that the income effect of higher earnings from increased ELP outweighs the substitution effect leading to higher health consciousness and preventive care spending. Thus, policies aimed at raising immigrants' families ELP in the USA would not only contribute to their effective socio-economic integration, but also strengthen the US workforce and economy in the long run.

Keywords: annual earnings; Bayesian analysis; cultural integration; economic integration; English proficiency; immigrants; MCMC; Markov chain Monte Carlo; medical care; USA. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=110445 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

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:ids:ijecbr:v:20:y:2020:i:3:p:255-287

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in International Journal of Economics and Business Research from Inderscience Enterprises Ltd
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sarah Parker ().