Foreign Languages and Trade

Jan Fidrmuc and Jarko Fidrmuc

No 7228, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: Cultural factors and especially common languages are well-known determinants of trade. By contrast, the knowledge of foreign languages was not explored in the literature so far. We combine traditional gravity models with data on fluency in the main languages used in EU and candidate countries. We show that widespread knowledge of languages is an important determinant for foreign trade, with English playing an especially important role. Other languages (French, German, and Russian) play an important role mainly in particular regions. Furthermore, we argue that the effect of foreign languages on trade may be non-linear. The robustness of our results is confirmed by quantile regressions.

Keywords: European integration; Foreign trade; Gravity models; Language; Quantile regression (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C23 F15 F40 Z10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cul and nep-tra
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (28)

Downloads: (external link)
https://cepr.org/publications/DP7228 (application/pdf)
CEPR Discussion Papers are free to download for our researchers, subscribers and members. If you fall into one of these categories but have trouble downloading our papers, please contact us at subscribers@cepr.org

Related works:
Working Paper: Foreign Languages and Trade (2014)
Working Paper: Foreign Languages and Trade (2009)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:7228

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
https://cepr.org/publications/DP7228

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers Centre for Economic Policy Research, 33 Great Sutton Street, London EC1V 0DX.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().