Ethnic concentration and language fluency of immigrants

Arbeitspapier

The paper analyses the impact of regional own-ethnic concentration on the language proficiency of immigrants. It solves the endogeneity of immigrants' location choices by exploiting the fact that guest-workers in Germany after WWII were initially placed by firms and labor agencies. We find a robust negative effect of ethnic concentration on immigrants' language ability. Simulation results of a simultaneous location and learning choice model confirm the presence of the effect and show how immigrants with high learning cost select into ethnic enclaves. Under the counterfactual scenario of a regionally equal distribution of immigrants the share of German-speakers increases only modestly.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IAB-Discussion Paper ; No. 10/2010

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers ; Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics: Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population; Neighborhood Characteristics ; International Migration
• Subject: enclave ; ethnic concentration ; language proficiency ; immigrants ; instrumental variable ; random utility mode ; Migranten ; Segregation ; Ethnische Gruppe ; Sprache ; Mehrsprachigkeit ; Deutsch ; Deutschland

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Danzer, Alexander M. ; Yaman, Firat
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB)
• (where): Nürnberg
• (when): 2010

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/57432
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:43 AM CET