IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ces/ceswps/_11981.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Out-of-School Learning: Subtitling vs. Dubbing and the Acquisition of Foreign-Language Skills

Author

Listed:
  • Frauke Baumeister
  • Eric A. Hanushek
  • Ludger Woessmann
  • Christiane Baumeister

Abstract

The development of English-language skills, a near necessity in today’s global economy, is heavily influenced by historical national decisions about whether to subtitle or dub TV content. While prior studies of language acquisition have focused on schools, we show the overwhelming influence of out-of-school learning. We identify the causal effect of subtitling in a difference-in-differences specification that compares English to math skills in European countries that do and do not use subtitles. We find a large positive effect of subtitling on English-language skills of over one standard deviation. The effect is robust to accounting for linguistic similarity, economic incentives to learn English, and cultural protectiveness. Consistent with oral TV transmission, the effect is larger for listening and speaking skills than for reading.

Suggested Citation

  • Frauke Baumeister & Eric A. Hanushek & Ludger Woessmann & Christiane Baumeister, 2025. "Out-of-School Learning: Subtitling vs. Dubbing and the Acquisition of Foreign-Language Skills," CESifo Working Paper Series 11981, CESifo.
  • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11981
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.ifo.de/DocDL/cesifo1_wp11981.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Erik Hanushek & Stephen Machin & Ludger Woessmann (ed.), 2011. "Handbook of the Economics of Education," Handbook of the Economics of Education, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 4, number 4, June.
    2. Melissa S. Kearney & Phillip B. Levine, 2019. "Early Childhood Education by Television: Lessons from Sesame Street," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 11(1), pages 318-350, January.
    3. Ludger Woessmann, 2016. "The Importance of School Systems: Evidence from International Differences in Student Achievement," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 30(3), pages 3-32, Summer.
    4. Leonardo Bursztyn & Davide Cantoni, 2016. "Tear in the Iron Curtain: The Impact of Western Television on Consumption Behavior," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 98(1), pages 25-41, March.
    5. Victor A. Ginsburgh & Juan Prieto-Rodriguez, 2011. "Returns to Foreign Languages of Native Workers in the European Union," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 64(3), pages 599-618, April.
    6. Strazzeri, Maurizio & Oggenfuss, Chantal & Wolter, Stefan C., 2022. "Much Ado about Nothing? School Curriculum Reforms and Students' Educational Trajectories," IZA Discussion Papers 15505, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Matthew Gentzkow & Jesse M. Shapiro, 2008. "Preschool Television Viewing and Adolescent Test Scores: Historical Evidence from the Coleman Study," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 123(1), pages 279-323.
    8. Erik Hanushek & Stephen Machin & Ludger Woessmann (ed.), 2011. "Handbook of the Economics of Education," Handbook of the Economics of Education, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 3, number 3, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Baumeister, Frauke & Hanushek, Eric A. & Woessmann, Ludger, 2025. "Out-of-School Learning: Subtitling vs. Dubbing and the Acquisition of Foreign-Language Skills," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 759, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    2. Frauke Baumeister & Eric A. Hanushek & Ludger Woessmann, 2025. "Out-of-School Learning: Subtitling vs. Dubbing and the Acquisition of Foreign-Language Skills," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 536, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.
    3. Rui Castro & Pavel Ševčík, 2024. "Occupational choice, human capital and financial constraints," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 57(3), pages 674-703, August.
    4. Ludger Woessmann, 2024. "Skills and Earnings: A Multidimensional Perspective on Human Capital," CESifo Working Paper Series 11428, CESifo.
    5. Principe, Francesco & Carrieri, Vincenzo, 2020. "Health's kitchen: TV, edutainment and nutrition," Ruhr Economic Papers 883, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    6. Rosa Sanchis-Guarner & José Montalbán & Felix Weinhardt, 2021. "Home Broadband and Human Capital Formation," CESifo Working Paper Series 8846, CESifo.
    7. Alex Armand & Paul Atwell & Joseph F. Gomes & Yannik Schenk, 2023. "It’s a Bird, it’s a Plane, it’s Superman! Using Mass Media to fight Intolerance," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 2023012, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).
    8. Bonin, Holger, 2017. "The Potential Economic Benefits of Education of Migrants in the EU," IZA Research Reports 75, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Ismael Sanz & J .D. Tenaa, 2020. "A Natural Experiment on the Effect of Instruction Time and Quality: Lessons for the Covid-19 Outbreak," Working Papers 202032, University of Liverpool, Department of Economics.
    10. Contini, Dalit & Cugnata, Federica, 2020. "Does Early Tracking Affect Learning Inequalities? Revisiting Difference-in-difference Modeling Strategies with International Assessments," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 202018, University of Turin.
    11. Sven A. Hartmann, 2024. "Television and family demography: Evidence from a natural experiment in East Germany," IAAEU Discussion Papers 202407, Institute of Labour Law and Industrial Relations in the European Union (IAAEU).
    12. Chadi, Adrian & Hoffmann, Manuel, 2021. "Television, Health, and Happiness: A Natural Experiment in West Germany," IZA Discussion Papers 14721, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Bergbauer, Annika B., 2019. "How did EU membership of Eastern Europe affect student achievement?," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 27(6), pages 624-644.
    14. Lant Pritchett & Martina Viarengo, 2023. "The Learning Crisis of Developing Country Elites: Lessons from PISA-D," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 37(2), pages 177-204.
    15. Contini, Dalit & Cugnata, Federica, 2018. "How do institutions affect learning inequalities? Revisiting difference-in-difference models with international assessments," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 201817, University of Turin.
    16. Hartmann, Sven A., 2024. "Television and family demography: Evidence from a natural experiment in East Germany," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    17. Damiano Argan and Anatole Cheyssson, 2023. "Plurilingualism and Brain Drain: Unexpected Consequences of Access to Foreign TV," Economics Working Papers EUI ECO 2023/01, European University Institute.
    18. Glitz, Albrecht, 2014. "Ethnic segregation in Germany," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 28-40.
    19. Maïlys Korber, 2019. "Does Vocational Education Give a Labour Market Advantage over the Whole Career? A Comparison of the United Kingdom and Switzerland," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 7(3), pages 202-223.
    20. James J. Heckman, 2019. "The Race Between Demand and Supply: Tinbergen’s Pioneering Studies of Earnings Inequality," De Economist, Springer, vol. 167(3), pages 243-258, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification
    • L82 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Entertainment; Media

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11981. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Klaus Wohlrabe (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cesifde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.