Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/314523 
Year of Publication: 
2025
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 17626
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We use data on Latino children in the United States who have been randomly assigned calculation tests in English or Spanish to check for the so-called bilingual advantage, the notion that knowing more than one language improves individuals' other cognitive skills. After controlling for different characteristics of children and their parents, as well as children's time in the US, we find a bilingual advantage among children who read or write in English and Spanish but not for those who only speak or understand both languages. In particular, bilingual readers or writers perform one fourth to one third of a standard deviation better than monolingual children, equal to learning gains of an additional school year. Applying the Oster test, we find that selection on unobservables would need to be 3-4 times stronger than selection on observables to explain away our results. The bilingual advantage is stronger among children in two-parent households with siblings and for those at the upper end of the ability distribution.
Subjects: 
bilingualism
cognitive skills
measurement
selection on observables and unobservables
JEL: 
I2
I24
J15
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
723.17 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.