[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-78512-en":3,"doc-seo-78512-105":31,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":93},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":21,"is_downloadable":21,"audit_status":21,"page_count":22,"language":23,"language_code":24,"site_id":25,"html_lang":24,"table_of_contents":26,"faqs":27,"seo_title":28,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":29,"read_time":30},78512,1099514068035,"Ezra","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_276721f389ce27ea32af1340a28f341c",8,"Research & Report","The Returns to English-Language Skills in India","India’s colonial legacy and linguistic diversity position English as a key economic asset, with its influence amplified by globalization. Using individual-level data from the India Human Development Survey (2005), the study quantifies how English-language skills relate to wages. After controlling for demographics, social group, schooling, geography, and ability proxies, men with fluent English earn about 34% more and those with basic English about 13% more than men without English. Returns are comparable to education milestones and are larger for more experienced and educated workers.","The Returns to English-Language Skills in India  \nMehtabul Azam World Bank & IZA􀀃  \nAimee Chin University of Houston & NBERy  \nNishith Prakash  \nUniversity of Connecticut, IZA, INSIDE & CReAMz  \nApril 2011x  \nAbstract  \nIndia's colonial legacy and linguistic diversity give English an important role in its economy, and this role has expanded due to globalization in recent decades. In this paper, we use individual-level data from the India Human Development Survey, 2005 to quantify the e􀀋ects of English-language skills on wages. After controlling for age, social group, schooling, geography and proxies for ability, we 􀀌nd that hourly wages are on average 34% higher for men who speak 􀀍uent English and 13% higher for men who speak a little English relative to men who do not speak English. The return to 􀀍uent English is as large as the return to completing secondary school and half as large as the return to completing a Bachelor's degree. Additionally, we 􀀌nd that more experienced and more educated workers receive higher returns to English. The complementarity between English skills and education appears to have strengthened over time{only the more educated among young workers receive a premium for English-speaking ability, whereas older workers across all education groups do.  \nJEL Classi􀀌cation: J31, J24, O15  \nKeywords: English Language, Human Capital, India  \n􀀃 Consultant, World Bank, Washington, DC 20433 USA ([e-mail: mazam1@worldbank.org](e-mail: mazam1@worldbank.org)) .  \ny Associate Professor, Department of Economics, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204-5019 USA (e-mail: [achin@uh.edu](achin@uh.edu)).  \nz Assistant Professor of Economics, Department of Economics and Human Rights Institute, University of Connecticut, 341 Mans􀀌eld Rd., Storrs, CT 06269-1063 USA (e-mail: nishith.prakash@uconn.edu) .  \nxWe thank Arjun Bedi, Eric Edmonds, James Feyrer, Chinhui Juhn, Elias Papaioannou and seminar participants at Texas A&M University, Rutgers University, 2010 Royal Economics Society Meetings, University of Mannheim, Indian Institute of Technology-Patna, Cornell University, Paris School of Economics, Toulouse School of Economics, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, International Institute of Social Studies, DIW Berlin, University of Memphis and ECSHD World Bank for helpful comments and discussion. We owe special thanks to David Clingingsmith and Kartini Shastry for providing some of the data used in our analysis. The 􀀌ndingsand opinions expressed here are entirely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the World Bank.  \n1 Introduction  \nIndia's colonial legacy and linguistic diversity give English an important role in its economy, and this role has expanded due to globalization in recent decades. It is widely believed that there are sizable economic returns to English-language skills in India, but the extent of these returns is unknown due to lack of a microdata set containing measures of both earnings and English ability.1 We take advantage of a recently available nationally representative individual-level data set, the India Human Development Survey (IHDS), 2005, to provide the 􀀌rst estimates of the returns to English-language skills in India. A secondary contribution of this paper is to provide new descriptive information about the prevalence of English ability in India. Based on the 1991 Census, 11% of the Indian population reported some English ability. It would be useful not only to have more recent 􀀌gures, but also to examine English ability along various dimensions such as education, age and sex.  \nA major challenge to estimating the returns to English is the likely endogeneity of language skills in the earnings equation. A priori, omitted variables bias seems to be a serious concern; for example, omitted ability or local labor market conditions can be correlated with both language skills and earnings. We exploit the richness of IHDS data to address these concerns. For example, the IHDS has data on i","cbCaivVpo9RPni9a","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaivVpo9RPni9a","pdf",412347,5,1,42,"English","en",105,"# Introduction\n## Background and Motivation\n## Data and Estimation Strategy\n## Identification Challenges","[{\"question\":\"What data source is used to measure the returns to English skills in India?\",\"answer\":\"The paper uses individual-level data from the India Human Development Survey (IHDS), 2005.\"},{\"question\":\"How are English-language skills linked to wages in the study’s main results?\",\"answer\":\"After controls, hourly wages are about 34% higher for men who speak fluent English and about 13% higher for men who speak a little English, relative to men who do not speak English.\"},{\"question\":\"Why is endogeneity a concern when estimating the returns to English-language skills?\",\"answer\":\"Language skills may be correlated with unobserved ability or local labor market conditions, and the paper notes remaining bias risks from unobserved factors, measurement error, and reverse causality without random assignment or a valid instrumental variable.\"}]","The Returns to English-Language Skills in India | 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data source is used to measure the returns to English skills in India?","Question",{"text":77,"@type":78},"The paper uses individual-level data from the India Human Development Survey (IHDS), 2005.","Answer",{"name":80,"@type":75,"acceptedAnswer":81},"How are English-language skills linked to wages in the study’s main results?",{"text":82,"@type":78},"After controls, hourly wages are about 34% higher for men who speak fluent English and about 13% higher for men who speak a little English, relative to men who do not speak English.",{"name":84,"@type":75,"acceptedAnswer":85},"Why is endogeneity a concern when estimating the returns to English-language skills?",{"text":86,"@type":78},"Language skills may be correlated with unobserved ability or local labor market conditions, and the paper notes remaining bias risks from unobserved factors, measurement error, and reverse causality without random assignment or a valid instrumental 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