Culture, Languages, and Economics

Victor Ginsburgh and Shlomo Weber ()

No 9357, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: The impact of various facets of cultural diversity on economic outcomes has become a topic of intensive research in economics. This paper focuses on linguistic diversity as one of the important aspects of cultural heterogeneity, and more specifically, The aim of this paper is to formally examine two opposing forces, standardization and efficiency on the one hand, and cultural attachment and linguistic disenfranchisement, on the other, and to outline ways of bringing them to balance each other. In our measurement of disenfranchisement and fractionalization we heavily rely on the notion of linguistic distances or proximity between various linguistic groups. We also analyze the impact of linguistic diversity on trade, migration and markets for translation. We conclude by examining the issue of disenfranchisement in the European Union and possible standardization policies to address this issue.

Keywords: Culture; Ethnolinguistic fractionalization; Economic impact; Measurement of diversity; Linguistic disenfranchisement; Standardization policies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D63 H77 Z18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cul and nep-hpe
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Culture, languages, and economics (2013)
Working Paper: Culture Languages and Economics (2012)
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