Language, Internet and Platform Competition: the case of Search Engine

Bruno Jullien, Mikhail Klimenko and Doh-Shin Jeon

No 9144, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: The World Wide Web was originally a totally English-based medium due to its US origin. Although the presence of other languages has steadily risen, content in English is still dominant, which raises a natural question of how bilingualism of consumers of a home country affects production of web content in the home language and domestic welfare? In this paper, we address this question by studying how bilingualism affects competition between a foreign search engine and a domestic one within a small country and thereby production of home language content. We find that bilingualism unambiguously softens platform competition, which in turn can induce a reduction in home language content and in home country's welfare. In particular, it is possible that content in the foreign language crowds out so much content in the home language that consumers enjoy less content when they are bilingual than when they are monolingual.

Keywords: Language; Bilingualism; Platform; Search engine; Two-sided market; International trade (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D21 D43 F12 F61 L13 L86 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-com, nep-ict and nep-net
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Working Paper: Language, Internet and Platform Competition: the case of Search Engine (2012)
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