摘要:Do language skills affect investment decisions? This paper addresses this question by identifying the effect of English proficiency on the stock market participation of immigrants in the United States and Australia. To establish causality, we construct an instrumental variable for English proficiency by exploiting the phenomenon that younger children acquire languages more easily than older children. We find that English proficiency has a significant positive effect on stock ownership among immigrants in both countries. Moreover, we provide evidence that a reduction in information costs and an increase in trust may serve as the mechanisms underlying the language ability effect.

关键词:Language skills, Stock market participation, Immigrants, Information costs, Social trust

该文2022年3月在线发表于《Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis》，该期刊为国际顶尖金融期刊之一，也是武汉大学经济与管理学院学术期刊分级方案A奖励期刊。甘煦为武汉大学经济与管理学院金融学专业博士生。