Paper #1156

Title:

TV or not TV? Subtitling and English skills

Authors:

Augusto Rupérez-Micola, Arturo Bris and Albert Banal-Estañol

Date:

March 2009

Abstract:

We study the influence of television translation techniques on the quality of the English spoken across the EU and OCDE. We identify a large positive effect for subtitled original version as opposed to dubbed television, which loosely corresponds to between four and twenty years of compulsory English education at school. We also show that the importance of subtitled television is robust to a wide array of specifications. We then find that subtitling and better English skills have an influence on high-tech exports, international student mobility, and other economic and social outcomes.

Keywords:

I21 i N00

JEL codes:

English, language skills, subtitles, television

Area of Research:

Labour, Public, Development and Health Economics

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