Research

Abstract. This paper studies the causal impact of language skills on human capital accumulation, labor market outcomes, and job characteristics of childhood immigrants across European countries. Using PIAAC data, we adopt an instrumental variable strategy based on the critical age hypothesis and linguistic distance. Our IV results show that higher language proficiency boosts human capital accumulation through formal schooling and actual labor market experience, resulting in improved labor market outcomes in terms of earnings and hours of work. Language proficiency also affects job tasks, increasing employment of reading and abstract tasks while decreasing physical work, and reduces education-job mismatch. These results indicate that language proficiency plays a significant role in enhancing productivity of immigrants in the European context. 

Abstract. This paper examines the impact of Türkiye’s 1992 higher education expansion on women’s university attainment and intergenerational mobility. Using data from the Turkish Demographic and Health Survey, I exploit variation across cohorts and provinces in exposure to newly established universities in a difference-in-differences framework. I find that the expansion increased women’s university attainment by about 5–6 percentage points, nearly doubling baseline levels, and led to significant increases in upward educational mobility. However, these gains were unevenly distributed: individuals from more advantaged backgrounds, particularly those with more educated parents, an urban upbringing, and Turkish as their mother tongue, benefited disproportionately. Migration for education was already rare and remains unaffected by the expansion, suggesting that the reform operated primarily through improved local access rather than geographic mobility. Overall, the findings show that expanding higher education can increase mobility without fully equalizing opportunity, highlighting the need for complementary policies that reduce barriers to access among disadvantaged groups.