The invention provides a polymer dispersion for paper coating compositions, obtainable by means of a radically initiated, aqueous emulsion polymerization in the presence of one or more emulsifiers and optionally protective colloids, of a) 50 to 93% by weight of at least one vinyl ester of an alkanoic acid with 1 to 12 C-atoms, whose homopolymer has a glass transition temperature Tg of below about 350° K, b) 2 to 30% by weight of ethylene, c) 5 to 20% by weight of at least one monomer whose homopolymer has a glass transition temperature Tg of at least about 350° K, d) 0.1 to 2% by weight of ethylenically unsaturated silane monomers, e) 0 to 5% by weight of further ethylenically unsaturated monomers that are copolymerizable with vinyl acetate and ethylene, based in each case on the total weight of the monomers used for the polymerization, with the data in % by weight summing in each case to 100% by weight.