Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Thesis Format

Integrated Article

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy

Program

Economics

Supervisor

Navarro, Salvador

2nd Supervisor

Sicular, Terry

3rd Supervisor

Lochner, Lance

Abstract

Not being proficient in a school’s predominant language of instruction can represent a language barrier for students’ human capital development. In Guatemala, 24 languages are spoken apart from Spanish, which is the language of instruction in the majority of schools, and about 40 percent of the total population has a non-Spanish language as a mother tongue. National standardized tests show that non-Spanish mother tongue (non-SMT) students are outperformed by SMT students in elementary and secondary schools.

My thesis analyzes whether non-SMT students face a language barrier and traces its source. Two main findings emerge. First, non-SMT students are not yet proficient in Spanish while at school. I find evidence of this language barrier in elementary and secondary schools through a model of latent variables, local instrumental variables, and first difference-instrumental variables. Second, I find that other parents’ mother tongue influences what school a parent will choose for their child. I analyze parents’ enrollment decisions for schools through the lens of a model of demand as is common in the industrial organization literature. The model also features spillover effects as seen in the literature for residential sorting or social interactions.

Summary for Lay Audience

Not being proficient in a school’s predominant language of instruction can represent a language barrier for students’ human capital development. In Guatemala, 24 languages are spoken apart from Spanish, which is the language of instruction in the majority of schools, and about 40 percent of the total population has a non-Spanish language as a mother tongue. National standardized tests show that non-Spanish mother tongue (non-SMT) students are outperformed by SMT students in elementary and secondary schools.

My thesis analyzes whether non-SMT students face a language barrier and traces its source. Two main findings emerge. First, non-SMT students are not yet proficient in Spanish while at school. Second, I find that other parents’ mother tongue influences what school a parent will choose for their child.

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