Markets and Linguistic Diversity

Ramon Caminal

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Abstract: Producers of cultural goods and media products can make their speci.c contents available to their audiences and readerships only through a particular language. The choice of language is a non-trivial decision in markets with bilingual or multilingual consumers. In this paper I argue that, the very existence of bilingual consumers may seriously bias market outcomes against minority languages. In particular, I show that the level of linguistic diversity determined by pro.t maximizing .rms tends to be ine¢ ciently low, except when and where the cost of producing a second linguistic version becomes su¢ ciently low. Thus, the model provides an e¢ ciency argument supporting policies that protect the presence of minority languages in these markets.

Keywords: D43; L13; L82; Product variety; language; translation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010-11-30
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-00911834
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (20)

Published in Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 2010, 76 (3), pp.774. ⟨10.1016/j.jebo.2010.09.009⟩

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Related works:
Working Paper: Markets and linguistic diversity (2015)
Journal Article: Markets and linguistic diversity (2010)
Working Paper: Markets and linguistic diversity (2009)
Working Paper: Markets and linguistic diversity (2009)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-00911834

DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2010.09.009

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