Using 2021 5-year American Community Survey, we empirically examine the effect of English proficiency on public transit ridership among immigrant commuters. To solve the endogeneity problem of English proficiency, we employ an instrumental variable strategy designed based on the interaction term between the age at arrival and non-Anglophone linguistic origin. English skills have a mixed role in explaining commuters’ travel behaviors: On the one hand, immigrants from English-speaking countries are more likely to commute by public transit than those from non-English-speaking countries. On the other hand, controlling for countries of origin, there is a moderate, negative association between English proficiency and public transit commuting among immigrants. Such an association is spatially heterogeneous: the association is statistically significant only in counties where public transit is a common commuting option.

中文翻译：

---

美国移民的公共交通通勤：英语技能的作用


我们利用 2021 年 5 年美国社区调查，实证检验了英语水平对移民通勤者乘坐公共交通的影响。为了解决英语水平的内生性问题，我们采用了一种基于到达年龄和非英语语言起源之间的交互项设计的工具变量策略。英语技能在解释通勤者的出行行为方面具有复杂的作用：一方面，来自英语国家的移民比来自非英语国家的移民更有可能乘坐公共交通通勤。另一方面，在控制原籍国的情况下，移民的英语水平与公共交通通勤之间存在适度的负相关关系。这种关联在空间上是异质的：这种关联仅在公共交通是常见通勤选择的县中才具有统计显着性。