The purpose of this article is to evaluate the importance of social class, migration background and command of national languages for the PISA school performance of teenagers living in European countries (France, Finland, Germany, United Kingdom, and Sweden) and traditional countries of immigration (Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the US). Econometric results show that the influence of the socioeconomic background of parents differs strongly across nations, with the highest impact found for Germany, the UK and US, whereas social mobility is more likely in Scandinavian countries and in Canada. Moreover, for all countries our estimations imply that for students with a migration background a key for catching up is the language spoken at home. We conclude that educational policy should focus on integration of immigrant children in schools and preschools, with particular emphasis on language skills at the early stage of childhood.
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Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number
1021.
Find related papers by JEL classification: I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities and Races; Non-labor Discrimination J18 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Public Policy O15 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Social Norms and Social Capital; Social Networks Economic Anthropology
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E. Glaeser & B. Sacerdote & Jose A. Scheinkman, 2003.
"The Social Multiplier,"
Levine's Bibliography
506439000000000130, UCLA Department of Economics.
[Downloadable!]
Other versions:
Edward L. Glaeser & Bruce I. Sacerdote & Jose A. Scheinkman, 2002.
"The Social Multiplier,"
NBER Working Papers
9153, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
[Downloadable!] (restricted)