Hostname: page-component-669899f699-cf6xr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-05-05T23:39:43.068Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Language Policy and Human Development

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 November 2016

DAVID D. LAITIN  and
RAJESH RAMACHANDRAN
DAVID D. LAITIN*
Affiliation:
Stanford University
RAJESH RAMACHANDRAN*
Affiliation:
Goethe University Frankfurt
*
David D. Laitin is Professor, Department of Political Science, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305 ([email protected]).
Rajesh Ramachandran is Postdoctoral Researcher, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Goethe University Frankfurt, Grüneburgplatz 1, 60323 Frankfurt am Main, Germany ([email protected]).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article explores how language policy affects the socioeconomic development of nation states through two channels: the individual’s exposure to and (in reference to an individual’s mother tongue) linguistic distance from the official language. In a cross-country framework the article first establishes a robust and sizeable negative relationship between an official language that is distant from the local indigenous languages and proxies for human capital and health. To establish this relationship as causal, we instrument language choice with a measure of geographic distance from the origins of writing. Next, using individual level data from India and a set of 11 African countries, we provide microempirical support on the two channels—distance from and exposure to the official language—and their implications for educational, health, occupational and wealth outcomes. Finally, we suggest policy implications based on our findings.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 110 , Issue 3 , August 2016 , pp. 457 - 480
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

Footnotes

The authors thank critical audiences at numerous universities and conferences. From those audiences and from individual responses, we have received useful feedback from Darin Christensen, Saumitra Jha, Thomas Pepinsky, Philippe van Parijs, David Stasavage, Abram de Swaan, Roman Wacziarg, Jack Willis, and Andreas Wimmer. Anonymous APSR reviewers have put earlier drafts through the proverbial ringer, and we thank them for pushing us to our limits.

References

REFERENCES

Albaugh, E. A. 2014. State-Building and Multilingual Education in Africa. New York: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar
Alesina, A., Devleeschauwer, A., Easterly, W., Kurlat, S., and Wacziarg, R.. 2003. “Fractionalization.” Journal of Economic Growth 8 (2): 155–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alesina, A., Michalopoulos, S., and Papaioannou, E.. 2016. “Ethnic Inequality.” Journal of Political Economy, Forthcoming.Google Scholar
Alidou, H., Boly, A., Brock-Utne, B., Diallo, Y. S., Heugh, K., and Wolff, H. E.. 2006. Optimizing Learning and Education in Africa—the Language Factor. Paris: ADEA.Google Scholar
Altonji, J., Todd, E., and Taber, C.. 2005. “Selection on Observed and Unobserved Variables: Assessing the Effectiveness of Catholic Schools.” Journal of Political Economy 113 (1): 151–84.Google Scholar
Angrist, J. D., and Lavy, V.. 1997. “The Effect of a Change in Language of Instruction on the Returns to Schooling in Morocco.” Journal of Labor Economics 15 (1, part 2): S48–76.Google Scholar
Aoki, Y., and Santiago, L.. 2015. Fertility, health and education of UK immigrants: The role of English language skills. CINCH Working Paper Series, Essen, Germany.Google Scholar
Ashraf, Q., and Galor, O.. 2013. “The “Out of Africa” Hypothesis, Human Genetic Diversity, and Comparative Economic Development.” The American Economic Review 103 (1): 1–46.Google Scholar
Barro, R., and Lee, J.. 2014. Barro-Lee data set. Retrieved at http://www.barrolee.com/abgerufen.Google Scholar
Bates, R. 1981. Markets and States in Tropical Africa. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Bauer, A. M., and Alegría, M.. 2010. “Impact of Patient Language Proficiency and Interpreter Service Use on the Quality of Psychiatric Care: A Systematic Review.” Psychiatric Services 61 (8): 765–73.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bleakley, H., and Chin, A.. 2004. “Language Skills and Earnings: Evidence from Childhood Immigrants.” Review of Economics and Statistics 86 (2): 481–96.Google Scholar
Bleakley, H., and Chin, A.. 2008. “What Holds Back the Second Generation? The Intergenerational Transmission of Language Human Capital Among Immigrants.” Journal of Human Resources 43 (2): 267–98.Google Scholar
Bleakley, H., and Chin, A.. 2010. “Age at Arrival, English Proficiency, and Social Assimilation Among US Immigrants.” American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 2 (1): 165.Google Scholar
Bockstette, V., Chanda, A., and Putterman, L.. 2002. “States and Markets: The Advantage of An Early Start.” Journal of Economic Growth 7 (4): 347–69.Google Scholar
Bokamba, E. 1984. “French Colonial Language Policy in Africa and its Legacies.” Studies in the Linguistic Sciences 14 (2): 1–35.Google Scholar
Bowen, S. 2001. Language Barriers in Access to Health Care. Ottawa: Health Canada.Google Scholar
Brock-Utne, B. 2002. “The most recent developments concerning the debate on language of instruction in Tanzania.” University of Oslo, Paper presented to the NETREED conference.Google Scholar
Brock-Utne, B., and Holmarsdottir, H. B.. 2003. “Language Policies and Practices in Africa—Some Preliminary Results from a Research Project in Tanzania and South africa.” In Language of Instruction in Tanzania and South Africa, eds. Brock-Utne, B., Desai, Z., and Qorro, M.. Tanzania: Dar es Salaam, pp. 80–102.Google Scholar
Chang, P., and Emzita, K.. 2002. Technical Assistance for ICT and HIV/AIDS Preventive Education in the Cross-Border Areas of the Greater Mekong Subregion, Vol. 36648. Asian Development Bank.Google Scholar
Chantavanich, S., Beesey, A., and Paul, S.. 2002. Mobility and HIV/AIDS in the Greater Mekong Subregion. Asian Development Bank.Google Scholar
Clarke, A. J., and Isphording, I. E.. 2015. “Language barriers and immigrant health production.” IZA Discussion Paper No. 8846.Google Scholar
Cooper, F. 2008. “Possibility and Constraint: African Independence in Historical Perspective.” The Journal of African History 49 (2): 167–96.Google Scholar
De Walque, D. 2007. “How does the Impact of an HIV/AIDS Information Campaign Vary with Educational Attainment? Evidence from Rural Uganda.” Journal of Development Economics 84 (2): 686–714.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Walque, D. 2009. “Does Education Affect HIV Status? Evidence from Five African Countries.” The World Bank Economic Review 23 (2): 209–33.Google Scholar
De Walque, D. 2010. “Education, Information, and Smoking Decisions: Evidence from Smoking Histories in the United States, 1940–2000.” Journal of Human Resources 45 (3): 682–717.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Desmet, K., Ortuño Ortín, I., and Weber, S.. 2005. “Peripheral diversity and redistribution.” CEPR Discussion Paper.Google Scholar
Desmet, K., Weber, S., and Ortuño-Ortín, I.. 2009. “Linguistic Diversity and Redistribution.” Journal of the European Economic Association 7 (6): 1291–318.Google Scholar
Devarajan, S., and Fengler, W.. 2013. “Africa's Economic Boom: Why the Pessimists and the Optimists are Both Right.” Foreign Affairs 92: 68.Google Scholar
Diamond, J. M. 1997. Guns, Germs and Steel: A Short History of Everybody for the Last 13,000 Years. New York: Random House.Google Scholar
Djité, P. G. 2008. The Sociolinguistics of Development in Africa, Volume 139. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Drysdale, R. 2004. Franco-Australian Pacific regional HIV/AIDS and STI initiative. Accessed at http://www.spc.int/hiv/index2.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_view&gid=50.Google Scholar
Dupas, P. 2011. “Health Behavior in Developing Countries.” Annual Review of Economics 3 (1): 425–49.Google Scholar
Dustmann, C., Frattini, T., and Lanzara, G.. 2012. “Educational Achievement of Second-Generation Immigrants: An International Comparison.” Economic Policy 27 (69): 143–85.Google Scholar
Dustmann, C., Machin, S., and Schönberg, U. 2010. “Ethnicity and Educational Achievement in Compulsory Schooling.” The Economic Journal 120 (546): F272–97.Google Scholar
Dutcher, N. 2003. Promise and perils of mother tongue education. Retrieved from http://www.silinternational.org/asia/ldc/plenary_papers/nadine_dutcher.pdf.Google Scholar
Eastman, C. M. 1983. Language Planning: An Introduction. San Francisco: Chandler & Sharp.Google Scholar
Englebert, P. 2009. Africa: Unity, Sovereignty, and Sorrow. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers.Google Scholar
Eriksson, K. 2014. “Does the Language of Instruction in Primary School Affect Later Labour Market Outcomes? Evidence from South Africa.” Economic History of Developing Regions 29 (2): 311–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Esteban, J., Mayoral, L., and Ray, D.. 2012. “Ethnicity and Conflict: An Empirical Study.” The American Economic Review 102 (4): 1310–42.Google Scholar
Fabunmi, M. 2009. “Historical Analysis of Educational Policy Formulation in Nigeria: Implications for Educational Planning and Policy.” International Journal of African & African-American Studies 4 (2): 1–7.Google Scholar
Fearon, J. D. 2003. “Ethnic and Cultural Diversity by Country.” Journal of Economic Growth 8 (2): 195–222.Google Scholar
Francois, P., Rainer, I., and Trebbi, F.. 2015. “How is Power Shared in Africa?” Econometrica 83 (2): 465–503.Google Scholar
Glaeser, E. L., La Porta, R., Lopez-de Silanes, F., and Shleifer, A.. 2004. “Do Institutions Cause Growth?” Journal of Economic Growth 9 (3): 271–303.Google Scholar
Gomes, J. 2014. The health costs of ethnic distance: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa.Google Scholar
Greenberg, J. H. 1956. “The Measurement of Linguistic Diversity.” Language 32 (1): 109–15.Google Scholar
Hall, R. E., and Jones, C. I.. 1999. “Why do some Countries Produce so Much More Output per Worker than Others?” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 114 (1): 83–116.Google Scholar
Hanushek, E. A., and Woessmann, L.. 2012. “Do Better Schools Lead to More Growth? Cognitive Skills, Economic Outcomes, and Causation.” Journal of Economic Growth 17 (4): 267–321.Google Scholar
Herbst, J. 2000. States and Power in Africa: Comparative Lessons in Authority and Control. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Higgins, C., and Norton, B.. 2009. Language and HIV/AIDS. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS) and Macro International. 2007. National family health survey (NFHS-3), 2005-06, India, Volume i. Mumbai.Google Scholar
Karliner, L. S., Jacobs, E. A., Chen, A. H., and Mutha, S. 2007. “Do Professional Interpreters Improve Clinical Care for Patients with Limited English Proficiency? A Systematic Review of the Literature.” Health Services Research 42 (2): 727–54.Google Scholar
Laitin, D. D. 1992. Language Repertoires and State Construction in Africa. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Laitin, D. D. 1994. “The Tower of Babel as a Coordination Game: Political Linguistics in Ghana.” American Political Science Review 88 (3): 622–34.Google Scholar
Laitin, D. D. 2000. “Language Conflict and Violence: The Straw that Strengthens the Camel's Back.” European Journal of Sociology 41 (1): 97–137.Google Scholar
Laitin, D. D., and Ramachandran, R.. 2015. “Linguistic diversity, official language choice and nation building: Theory and evidence.” Working paper available at https://drive.google.com/file/d/0b079k2j40kg6behjvnppdu1fs3m/view.Google Scholar
Laitin, D. D., Ramachandran, R., and Walter, S. L.. 2015. “Language of instruction and student learning: Evidence from an experimental program in Cameroon.” Working paper available at https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=zgvmyxvsdgrvbwfpbnxyyw1hy2hhbmryyw5ly29ufgd4ojc4mzc4nzc5zmm3njdjztu.Google Scholar
Lazear, E. P. 1999. “Culture and Language.” Journal of Political Economy 107 (S6), S95–126.Google Scholar
Lenneberg, E. H., Chomsky, N., and Marx, O.. 1967. Biological Foundations of Language, Vol. 68. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Lewis, P., Simon, G., and Fennig, C.. 2014. Ethnologue: Languages of the World. 17th ed. Dallas, TX: SIL International.Google Scholar
Michalopoulos, S., and Papaioannou, E.. 2011. “The long-run effects of the scramble for Africa.” No. w17620. National Bureau of Economic Research.Google Scholar
Michalopoulos, S., and Papaioannou, E.. 2013. “Pre-Colonial Ethnic Institutions and Contemporary African Development.” Econometrica 81 (1): 113–52.Google Scholar
Michelman, F. 1995. “French and British Colonial Language Policies: A Comparative View of their Impact on African Literature.” Research in African Literatures 26 (4): 216–25.Google Scholar
Nunn, N. 2009. “The Importance of History for Economic Development.” Annual Review of Economics 1, 65–92.Google Scholar
Oster, E. 2013. “Unobservable selection and coefficient stability: Theory and validation.” No. w19054. National Bureau of Economic Research.Google Scholar
Putnam, R. D., Leonardi, R., and Nanetti, R. Y. 1994. Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Ramachandran, R. 2012. “Language Use in Education and Primary Schooling Attainment: Evidence from a Natural Experiment in Ethiopia.” Documents de treball IEB (34), 1–49.Google Scholar
Ramirez, D., Engel, K. G., and Tang, T. S.. 2008. “Language Interpreter Utilization in the Emergency Department Setting: A Clinical Review.” Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved 19 (2), 352–62.Google Scholar
Rodrik, D. 1990. “How should Structural Adjustment Programs be Designed?” World Development 18 (7): 933–47.Google Scholar
Shleifer, A., Lopez-de Silanes, F., and La Porta, R.. 2008. “The Economic Consequences of Legal Origins.” Journal of Economic Literature 46 (2): 285–332.Google Scholar
Sridhar, K. K. 1996. “Language in Education: Minorities and Multilingualism in India.” International Review of Education 42 (4): 327–47.Google Scholar
Tansey, E., Borland, R., West, H., et al. 2010. “Southern Africa Ports as Spaces of HIV Vulnerability: Case Studies from South Africa and Namibia.” International Maritime Health 62 (4): 233–40.Google Scholar
Taylor, S., and von Fintel, M.. 2016. Estimating the Impact of Language of Instruction in South African Primary Schools: A Fixed Effects Approach.” Economics of Education Review 50, 75–89.Google Scholar
Tilly, C., and Ardant, G.. 1975. The Formation of National States in Western Europe, Volume 8. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Translators Without Borders. 2015. “Does translated health-related information lead to higher comprehension? A study of rural and urban Kenyans.” Accessed at http://translatorswithoutborders.org/sites/all/themes/twb/pdfs/twb_wor_impactstudy_final.pdf.Google Scholar
Underwood, C., Serlemitsos, E., and Macwangi, M.. 2007. “Health Communication in Multilingual Contexts: A Study of Reading Preferences, Practices, and Proficiencies among Literate Adults in Zambia.” Journal of Health Communication 12 (4): 317–37.Google Scholar
UNECOSOC. 2011. Background paper—imperative for quality education for all in Africa: Ensuring equity and enhancing teaching quality. Technical report, United Nations Economic and Social Council.Google Scholar
Weber, E. 1976. Peasants into Frenchmen: The Modernization of Rural France, 1870–1914. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Weinstein, B. 1983. The Civic Tongue: Political Consequences of Language Choices. New York: Longman.Google Scholar
Whitehead, C. 2005. “The Historiography of British Imperial Education Policy, Part II: Africa and the Rest of the Colonial Empire.” History of Education 34 (4): 441–54.Google Scholar
Young, C. 1983. “The Temple of Ethnicity.” World Politics 35 (4): 652–62.Google Scholar
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.