unique survey data of migrants participating in an intensive language course in Germany, we find that the age and skill …We investigate the effect of peer group composition on language improvement in language classes for adults. Using … of regions of origin on average obtain improvements in language skills with a higher probability. …

-time employment spells. Estimation results for German women suggest that deviations from full-time employment are associated with …

Prior to the introduction of mother tongue based education in 1994, the language of instruction for most subjects in … Ethiopia's primary schools was the official language (Amharic) - the mother tongue of only one third of the population. This … the effects of language of instruction on reading skills and early labour market outcomes. The results indicate that the …

Language proficiency may not only affect the earnings of the individual, but the probability to participate in the … this paper, the effects of language proficiency on earnings are analyzed for foreigners in Germany with joint consideration … of up to four types of selection. The results show that language proficiency significantly increases participation and …

I propose two new tests of Falk and Knell's (2004)prediction that individuals'reference income increases with ability …. To overcome the difficulty that the reference income is not observed in existing large data sets, I extend Falk and Knell …'s model to establish a link between immigrants' reference income and their return visits to their countries of origin. I …