 Does the language of instruction in primary school affect later labour market outcomes? Evidence from South AfricaEconomic History of Developing Regions, 2014, vol. 29, issue 2, 311-335 Abstract: This paper uses a change in the language of instruction in South African schools in 1955 to examine the effect of mother-tongue instead of English or Afrikaans instruction on long-term educational and economic outcomes. Using the 1980 South African census, a difference-in-difference framework allows me to estimate the effect of increasing mother-tongue instruction for black students from four to six years. I find positive effects on wages which I interpret as evidence of increases in human capital; these effects might have been larger in the absence of labour market discrimination against blacks under apartheid. I find positive effects on the ability to read and write, on educational attainment, and on the ability to speak English in predominantly English areas. I examine heterogeneous effects by region. This paper informs knowledge about the long-term effects of one aspect of a major apartheid education policy, the Bantu Education Act. Date: 2014 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:29:y:2014:i:2:p:311-335 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2014.955272 Access Statistics for this article Economic History of Developing Regions is currently edited by Alex Klein and Alfonso Herranz-Loncan More articles in Economic History of Developing Regions from Taylor & Francis Journals |
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