How Many Languages Do We Need?: The Economics of Linguistic Diversity

by Victor Ginsburgh, Shlomo Weber

Overview

In the global economy, linguistic diversity influences economic and political development as well as public policies in positive and negative ways. It leads to financial costs, communication barriers, divisions in national unity, and, in some extreme cases, conflicts and war—but it also produces benefits related to group and individual identity. What are the specific advantages and disadvantages of linguistic diversity and how does it influence social and economic progress? This book examines linguistic diversity as a global social phenomenon and considers what degree of linguistic variety might result in the greatest economic good.


Victor Ginsburgh and Shlomo Weber look at linguistic proximity between groups and between languages. They describe and use simple economic, linguistic, and statistical tools to measure diversity's impact on growth, development, trade, the quality of institutions, translation issues, voting patterns in multinational competitions, and the likelihood and intensity of civil conflicts. They address the choosing of core languages in a multilingual community, such as the European Union, and argue that although too many official languages might harm cohesiveness, efficiency, and communication, reducing their number brings about alienation and disenfranchisement of groups.


Demonstrating that the value and drawbacks of linguistic diversity are universal, How Many Languages Do We Need? suggests ways for designing appropriate linguistic policies for today's multilingual world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691136899
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	04/24/2011
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Victor Ginsburgh is professor of economics emeritus, member of the European Center for Advanced Research in Economics and Statistics, Brussels, and member of the Center of Operations Research and Econometrics, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. Shlomo Weber is the Robert H. and Nancy Dedman Trustee Professor of Economics at Southern Methodist University and professor of economics at the New Economic School, Moscow.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction 1

Chapter 1: My Language IsMy Homeland 7





Chapter 2: Linguistic Policies, Disenfranchisement, and Standardization 16

1. Linguistic Diversity: A Brief Look at the Past 16

2. Linguistic Standardization: Roots, Benefits, and Some Examples 18

3. Some Painful Aspects of Standardization 21

4. HowMany Languages: IsMore theMerrier, or Is Small Beautiful? 26

5. Summary 28





Chapter 3: Linguistic, Genetic, and Cultural Distances: How Far Is Nostratic? 29

1. Languages and Dialects 30

2. Distances between Languages 33

3. Distances between Groups 48

4. Summary 55





Chapter 4: DistancesMatter 56

1. International Trade 57

2. Migrations 63

3. Literary Translations 65

4. The Eurovision Song Contest: Is Voting Political or Cultural? 74

5. Summary 82





Chapter 5: Individual Communicative Benefits 84

1. Modeling Language Learning 86

2. Demand Functions for Languages 93

3. Private Returns on Languages 98

4. Summary 107





Chapter 6: Diversity and Disenfranchisement Indices 108

1. Fractionalization and Polarization Indices 110

2. Disenfranchisement Indices 126

3. Links between Fractionalization, Disenfranchisement, and Communication Indices 137

4. Summary 139

5. Appendix: Numerical Calculation of the Various Disenfranchisement Indices 140





Chapter 7: Diversity and Disenfranchisement: Applications 142

1. Fractionalization and Polarization Indices 143

2. Disenfranchisement Indices: The Example of the EU 151

3. Summary 160





Chapter 8: Multilingualism in the European Union: A Case Study in Linguistic Policy 162

1. Twenty-three Languages, and More to Come 162

2. Possible Solutions 177

3. Summary 199





Conclusions 201

Bibliography 205

Index 223

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"A language is both a means of communication and a repository of culture. By limiting the number of languages, we make it easier for people to understand one another, but we leave the world a less interesting place. Victor Ginsburgh and Shlomo Weber explore this trade-off and much else in their rich and fascinating book."—Eric S. Maskin, Nobel Laureate in Economics

"The authors succeed brilliantly in laying out a coherent framework that explains the critical and substantive issues for the economics of linguistic diversity."—Antonio Merlo, University of Pennsylvania

"Language is what unifies people. It is also what divides them. This paradox was first observed in the Biblical story of the Tower of Babel, and the contradiction continues to plague modern times. Ginsburgh and Weber provide a brilliant analysis of this persistent and urgent problem, and they explore this vital question: given that linguistic diversity has costs, how much diversity can we afford in today's world?"—Dean Keith Simonton, University of California, Davis

"This book's argument is straightforward, the volume of literature assembled is impressive, and the econometric contribution is excellent. The authors prove that econometric methods can be expanded into a field as challenging as linguistic diversity."—Michael Hutter, Technische Universität Berlin

"While there has been a great deal of work on linguistic diversity in economics over the last twenty years, no book has emerged on the topic to date. Examining matters from ethnography to labor, political, cultural, and trade issues, this accessible and important book fills the void."—Jacques Melitz, Heriot-Watt University

"There are few subjects as complex and sensitive as the use of languages in a society. The affection of an individual for his language reflects on the whole social group and the language becomes the property of the clan, tribe, territory, and nation. This book describes the range of issues that this raises and the complexities of the trade-off between protecting languages and the possible gains that would result from a reduction of their number."—Michel Vanden Abeele, former director general, Directorate-General for Translation of the European Commission

Editorial Reviews

"This is a good book—clear, comprehensive, and easy to read. Ginsburgh and Weber cover several topics, including linguistic policies, diversity and standardization, economic costs and benefits, and multilingualism as a source of conflict and sometimes war."

Choice

"In their intriguing book How Many Languages Do We Need?, Victor Ginsburgh and Shlomo Weber illuminate how language diversity affects growth, trade and economic development."—-David Throsby, Times Literary Supplement

From the Publisher

[T]his book makes a welcome contribution by providing a simple and succinct presentation of an otherwise complex interdisciplinary problem. In comparison to much of the Economics literature, it provides a far more nuanced picture of linguistic diversity and the associated policy challenges.

Journal of Economic Issues - Vikas Kumar

In sum, their book is a fascinating, thought-provoking introduction to a large body of work at the frontier of a new, exciting area of economic research, which includes not only the economics of linguistic diversity, but, more generally, the economics of culture and institutions.

Journal of Regional Science - Enrico Spolaore

[V]ery few books have been written on the economics of linguistic diversity, and this book takes a valuable step towards remedying this situation. It offers a nice nontechnical overview of the field, and has something interesting to offer to economists, sociologists, and linguists interested in linguistic diversity, language policy, and their implications.

Journal of Economic History - Isabelle Sin

In their intriguing book How Many Languages Do We Need?, Victor Ginsburgh and Shlomo Weber illuminate how language diversity affects growth, trade and economic development.

Times Literary Supplement - David Throsby

[T]his book makes a welcome contribution by providing a simple and succinct presentation of an otherwise complex interdisciplinary problem. In comparison to much of the Economics literature, it provides a far more nuanced picture of linguistic diversity and the associated policy challenges.
— Vikas Kumar

Journal of Economic Issues

In sum, their book is a fascinating, thought-provoking introduction to a large body of work at the frontier of a new, exciting area of economic research, which includes not only the economics of linguistic diversity, but, more generally, the economics of culture and institutions.
— Enrico Spolaore

Journal of Regional Science

[V]ery few books have been written on the economics of linguistic diversity, and this book takes a valuable step towards remedying this situation. It offers a nice nontechnical overview of the field, and has something interesting to offer to economists, sociologists, and linguists interested in linguistic diversity, language policy, and their implications.
— Isabelle Sin

Journal of Economic History

In their intriguing book How Many Languages Do We Need?, Victor Ginsburgh and Shlomo Weber illuminate how language diversity affects growth, trade and economic development.
— David Throsby

Times Literary Supplement