Book Translations as Idea Flows: The Effects of the Collapse of Communism on the Diffusion of Knowledge

Ran Abramitzky and Isabelle Sin

No 20023, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: We use book translations as a new measure of international idea flows and study the effects of Communism's collapse in Eastern Europe on these flows. Using novel data on 800,000 translations and difference-in-differences approaches, we show that while translations between Communist languages decreased by two thirds with the collapse, Western-to-Communist translations increased by a factor of four and quickly converged to Western levels. Convergence was more pronounced in the fields of applied and social sciences, and was more complete in Satellite and Baltic than in Soviet countries. We discuss how these patterns help us understand how repressive institutions and preferences towards Western European ideas shaped the international diffusion of knowledge.

JEL-codes: F02 F15 N0 N70 N74 P20 P30 P51 P52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014-03
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Published as Ran Abramitzky & Isabelle Sin, 2014. "Book Translations As Idea Flows: The Effects Of The Collapse Of Communism On The Diffusion Of Knowledge," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 12(6), pages 1453-1520, December.

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Related works:
Journal Article: BOOK TRANSLATIONS AS IDEA FLOWS: THE EFFECTS OF THE COLLAPSE OF COMMUNISM ON THE DIFFUSION OF KNOWLEDGE (2014)
Working Paper: Book Translations as Idea Flows: The Effects of the Collapse of Communism on the Diffusion of Knowledge (2012)
Working Paper: Book Translations As Idea Flows: The Effects of the Collapse of Communism on the Diffusion of Knowledge (2010)
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