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

Ran Abramitzky () and Isabelle Sin
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Ran Abramitzky: Stanford University

No 09-032, Discussion Papers from Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research

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, we show that while translations between Communist languages decreased by two thirds with the collapse, Western-to-Communist translations increased by a factor of seven and reached Western levels. Convergence was full in economically-beneficial fields such as sciences and only partial in culturally-beneficial fields such as history. The effects were larger for more Western-oriented countries. These findings help us understand how institutions shape the international diffusion of knowledge.

Keywords: international flows of ideas; international transfer of knowledge; globalization; book translations; Communism; transition economies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F02 F15 N0 N70 N74 O33 P20 P30 P51 P52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010-08
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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http://www-siepr.stanford.edu/repec/sip/09-032.pdf (application/pdf)

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 (2014)
Working Paper: Book Translations as Idea Flows: The Effects of the Collapse of Communism on the Diffusion of Knowledge (2012)
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