In this handbook, Victor Ginsburgh and Shlomo Weber bring together methodological, theoretical, and empirical studies in the economics of language in a single framework of linguistic diversity that reflects the history and contemporary study of the topic.

Table of Contents

• List of Figures and Tables
• Notes on Contributors
• Introduction - Victor Ginsburgh and Shlomo Weber
• Part I Linguistic Diversity: Origins and Measurement
• 1 Linguistic Theory, Linguistic Diversity and Whorfian Economics - Nigel Fabb
• 1.1 Introduction
• 1.2 Abstract linguistic form, and the rules and conditions which govern it
• 1.3 Linguistic diversity: An illustrative comparison between two languages
• 1.4 Theories of linguistic diversity
• 1.5 Whorfian psychology and economics: Causal relations between language and thought
• 1.6 Non-Whorfian proposals that language influences thought
• 1.7 Conclusion
• 2 Dynamic Models of Language Evolution: The Linguistic Perspective - Andrew D. M. Smith
• 2.1 Introduction
• 2.2 Language diversity
• 2.3 Language change
• 2.4 Dynamic models of language
• 2.5 Conclusion
• 3 Dynamic Models of Language Evolution: The Economic Perspective - Andrew John
• 3.1 Introduction
• 3.2 How economic forces can influence language dynamics
• 3.3 Feedback mechanisms
• 3.4 Economic models of language learning and language use
• 3.5 Dynamic economic models of language use
• 3.6 Conclusion
• 4 What Do We Learn from Neurolinguistics? - Mark Leikin
• 4.1 Introduction
• 4.2 Terms, definitions and research areas
• 4.3 Brain and language
• 4.4 Evolution of brain and language relationships
• 4.5 Development of brain and language relationships in childhood
• 4.6 The neurolinguistics of bilingualism
• 4.7 Conclusion
• 5 Linguistic Distances and Ethnolinguistic Fractionalization and Disenfranchisement Indices - Victor Ginsburgh and Shlomo Weber
• 5.1 Introduction
• 5.2 Languages, dialects and trade languages
• 5.3 Distances between languages
• 5.4 The effects of linguistic distances on economic outcomes
• 5.5 Linguistic distances between groups
• 5.6 Fractionalization and disenfranchisement indices
• 6 Ancestry, Language and Culture - Enrico Spolaore and Romain Wacziarg
• 6.1 Introduction
• 6.2 Ancestry
• 6.3 Culture
• 6.4 Ancestry and culture: A simple conceptual framework
• 6.5 Ancestry and culture: Empirical evidence
• 6.6 Conclusion
• 7 Language Learning and Communicative Benefits - Efthymios Athanasiou, Juan D. Moreno-Ternero and Shlomo Weber
• 7.1 Introduction
• 7.2 Communicative benefits
• 7.3 Efficiency
• 7.4 Efficient choices of official languages
• 7.5 Conclusion
• 8 Language and Emotion - Niall Bond and Victor Ginsburgh
• 8.1 Introduction
• 8.2 Emotions and the polyglot
• 8.3 Choosing languages within language communities
• 8.4 ‘Colonized’ writers
• 8.5 Migrating writers
• 8.6 Between languages: Nabokov, Green and Tabucchi
• 8.7 ‘Denying’ the language in which they wrote: Kafka and Derrida
• 8.8 Conclusion
• Part II Languages and Markets
• 9 Common Spoken Languages and International Trade - Peter H. Egger and Farid Toubal
• 9.1 Introduction
• 9.2 Common native and spoken languages around the globe and their measures
• 9.3 A trade economist's stylized view on languages
• 9.4 Empirical results
• 9.5 Conclusion
• 10 Economic Exchange and Business Language in the Ancient World: An Exploratory Review - Nigel Holden
• 10.1 Introduction
• 10.2 Language considerations
• 10.3 Context of trade and antiquity
• 10.4 The written word
• 10.5 The spoken language of business in the Ancient World
• 10.6 Commercial terms in various languages of the Ancient World
• 10.7 The businessman as unsavoury personage in Greek and Latin literature
• 10.8 Latin: Not just a lingua franca
• 10.9 Conclusion
• 11 Language Use in Multinational Corporations: The Role of Special Languages and Corporate Idiolects - Susanne Tietze, Nigel Holden and Wilhelm Barner-Rasmussen
• 11.1 Introduction
• 11.2 Cities and the MNC
• 11.3 Research on language aspects of the MNC: A pragmatic perspective
• 11.4 Special languages
• 11.5 Discussion
• 11.6 Conclusion
• 12 Language and Migration - Alícia Adserà and Mariola Pytliková
• 12.1 Introduction
• 12.2 The role of language in migration decisions
• 12.3 Language proficiency among migrants
• 12.4 Language and the returns to human capital
• 12.5 Language and migrants’ socio-economic assimilation
• 12.6 Conclusion
• 13 Translation: Economic and Sociological Perspectives - Johan Heilbron and Gisèle Sapiro
• 13.1 Introduction
• 13.2 International translation flows and the global market of translations
• 13.3 Political, economic and cultural factors
• 13.4 Selection, import and reception patterns
• 13.5 Conclusion
• 14 Languages, Fees and the International Scope of Patenting - Dietmar Harhoff, Karin Hoisl, Bruno van Pottelsberghe de la Potterie and Charlotte Vandeput
• 14.1 Introduction
• 14.2 Institutional background and hypotheses
• 14.3 Data and econometric modelling
• 14.4 Empirical implementation and results
• 14.5 Conclusion
• Part III Linguistic Policies and Economic Development
• 15 Linguistic Cleavages and Economic Development - Klaus Desmet, Ignacio Ortuño-Ortín and Romain Wacziarg
• 15.1 Introduction
• 15.2 A phylogenetic approach to linguistic diversity
• 15.3 Linguistic diversity, redistribution and economic growth
• 15.4 Linguistic diversity and economic development
• 15.5 Conclusion
• 16 Language Choices: Political and Economic Factors in Three European States - Sue Wright
• 16.1 Introduction
• 16.2 Nation building
• 16.3 Language, advantage and group membership
• 16.4 Conclusion: The role of elites
• 17 Languages, Regional Conflicts and Economic Development in South Asia - Selma K. Sonntag
• 17.1 Introduction
• 17.2 India
• 17.3 Sri Lanka
• 17.4 Nepal
• 17.5 Pakistan
• 17.6 Conclusion
• 18 Is Language Destiny? The Origins and Consequences of Ethnolinguistic Diversity in Sub-Saharan Africa - Brandon de la Cuesta and Leonard Wantchekon
• 18.1 Introduction
• 18.2 Why does Africa have such high levels of linguistic diversity?
• 18.3 The economic and political effects of linguistic diversity
• 18.4 Conclusion
• 19 Languages, Regional Conflicts and Economic Development: Russia - Denis V. Kadochnikov
• 19.1 Introduction
• 19.2 The standardization of the Russian language in late medieval Russia (16-17th centuries)
• 19.3 Language policy in the context of the reforms of Peter the Great and his successors (18th century)
• 19.4 The role of foreign languages in Russia of the late 18th and early 19th centuries
• 19.5 Language policy in the context of the territorial expansion of the Russian Empire (17-19th centuries)
• 19.6 Language and politics in late imperial Russia
• 19.7 The socialist revolution of 1917 and early Soviet language policy (1920-1930)
• 19.8 Late Soviet language policy (1930-1980)
• 19.9 Russian and other languages of the Russian Federation in the post-Soviet period
• 19.10 Summary: Socio-economic and political factors and implications of language policy in Russia in historical perspective
• Part IV Globalization and Minority Languages
• 20 English as a Global Language - Jacques Melitz
• 20.1 Introduction
• 20.2 The status of English as a global language
• 20.3 Areas where English faces sharp limits
• 20.4 Language learning
• 20.5 Welfare implications
• 21 Challenges of Minority Languages - François Grin
• 21.1 Introduction
• 21.2 What is a minority language?
• 21.3 The economics of minority language protection and promotion
• 21.4 Capacity, opportunity and desire: An overview of the basic model
• 21.5 Conditions for effective policies
• 21.6 Guidelines for language policy
• 21.7 The costs and net value of minority language policies
• 21.8 About contingent and absolute multilingualism
• 21.9 Conclusion
• 22 Language Rights: A Welfare-Economics Approach - Bengt-Arne Wickström
• 22.1 Introduction
• 22.2 Basic model
• 22.3 Modifications due to endogenous preferences
• 22.4 Modifications due to redistribution
• 22.5 Conclusion
• 23 A Game-Theoretic Analysis of Minority Language Use in Multilingual Societies - José-Ramón Uriarte
• 23.1 Introduction
• 23.2 Multilingual societies
• 23.3 The reference point: Linguistic rights, linguistic politeness and expectations
• 23.4 The maximin language choice
• 23.5 Information in modern multilingual societies
• 23.6 The ultimatum language game
• 23.7 The bilinguals as a player population: The building of linguistic conventions
• 23.8 Linguistic politeness equilibrium
• 23.9 Policy suggestions
• 23.10 Conclusion
• Name Index
• Subject Index