Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/125006 
Year of Publication: 
2015
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 9498
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This paper aims to identify the causal effect of English language skills on education, health and fertility outcomes of immigrants in England and Wales. We construct an instrument for language skills using age at arrival in the United Kingdom, exploiting the fact that young children learn languages more easily than older children and adults. Using a unique individual-level dataset that links 2011 census data to life event records for the population living in England and Wales, we find that better English language skills significantly lower the probability of having no qualifications and raise that of obtaining academic degrees, but do not affect child health and self-reported adult health. The impact of language on fertility outcomes is also considerable: Better English skills significantly delay the age at which a woman has her first child, lower the likelihood of becoming a teenage mother, and decrease fertility.
Subjects: 
language skills
education
health
fertility
JEL: 
I10
I20
J13
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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