Returns to dialect Identity exposure through language in the Chinese labor market
Returns to dialect Identity exposure through language in the Chinese labor market
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DOI：
10.1016/j.chieco.2014.05.006
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发表时间：
2014-09-01
影响因子：
6.8
通讯作者：
Xu, Le
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Chen, Zhao;Lu, Ming;Xu, Le
虽然普通话是中国的通用语言，但每个地区/城市都有自己的方言。本文使用一个独特的自我收集的数据集，估计在中国最大和最发达的城市，上海的方言熟悉度的回报。我们评估农民工的上海话的理解和流利性，并通过确定工人的家乡是否位于吴语地区和这些家乡与上海之间的距离来测量他们的方言流利性。我们确定，在OLS回归，返回到方言是一个后果的endoterm偏见。在使用IV（工具变量）后，方言流利性显着影响一个人在服务行业的收入，特别是影响销售工作。在制造业和建筑业工作中，方言流利程度较高的移民倾向于自营职业，以赚取更多收入。通过区分听和说的能力，我们发现听觉理解能力并不能显著增加一个人的收入，而口语流利性却可以。由于上海本地人都能听懂普通话，所以能听懂上海话的外来人口在信息交流上不会有什么困难。因此，我们的研究结果证实，方言是一个渠道，通过人们暴露自己的身份。说方言是农民工融入当地社会的一种方式，也是降低劳动力市场交易成本的一种方式。(C)2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Though Mandarin is China's common language, each region/city has its own dialect. Using a unique self-collected dataset, this paper estimates returns to dialect familiarity in China's largest and most developed city, Shanghai. We evaluate migrant workers' comprehension and fluency of the Shanghai dialect, and instrument their dialect fluency by determining whether the workers' hometowns were located in the Wu dialect region and the distance between those hometowns and Shanghai. We determined that in OLS regressions, the returns to dialect are a consequence of endogeneity bias. After using IV (instrumental variable), dialect fluency was shown to significantly impact one's income in the service industry, in particular affecting sales jobs. In manufacturing and construction jobs, migrants with higher dialect fluency tended to be self-employed in order to earn more income. By distinguishing between listening and speaking abilities, we found that auditory comprehension does not significantly increase one's earning, while oral fluency does. Since local residents in Shanghai can understand Mandarin, migrants who can understand Shanghainese won't have difficulty in the information exchange. Therefore, our results confirm that dialect is a channel through which people expose their identity. Speaking the local dialect is a way for migrant workers to integrate into the local society and also to reduce transaction costs in the labor market. (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.