This dissertation examines the causes and consequences of second language education policies at the global level and in a national comparative framework, largely with quantitative data and pooled time series analyses.

Languages were selected into school curricula largely because of the way the European world-system expanded over the past few hundred years, with colonization and the spread of the nation-state model among the most important factors. Countries that make studying second languages obligatory, by making attendance mandatory in the grades where second languages are taught, tend to be younger and use more widely spoken languages; the effects of IGO memberships is fragile indicating that the isomorphic processes associated with the world polity should not be overemphasized.

The consequences of second language policies are first examined in terms of stratification and empirical analyses, with a sample of African countries from 1980 to 2000 show that where colonial languages are used as the medium of instruction inequality (measured as Gini coefficient for household income) is significantly higher, net of robust cross-national predictors. The amount of time devoted to the study of these languages as subjects, however, has no impact on inequality. Consequences are also examined in terms of economic development (measured as GDP per capita), specifically in so far as second language skills can be understood as human capital that facilitates economic development through the diffusion of technology and promotion of trade. Empirical analyses with a large group of non-English-speaking countries show a positive relationship between time spent on English and GDP per capita for the period 1980 to 2005.

The larger picture that emerges is the causes and consequences of second language education policies at the national level are part of larger global level processes, like the expansion of the European world-system, the spread of a global level culture and the dynamics of global economic networks.