This file is part of IDEAS, which uses RePEc data


[ Papers | Articles | Software | Books | Chapters | Authors | Institutions | JEL Classification | NEP reports | Search | New papers by email | Author registration | Rankings | Volunteers | FAQ | Blog | Help! ]

Economics of Literary Translation. A Simple Theory and Evidence

Author info | Abstract | Publisher info | Download info | Related research | Statistics
Author Info
Shlomo Weber (University Dallas)
Victor Ginsburgh (ECARES, Université Libre de Bruxelles and CORE, Université catholique de Louvain)
Sheila Weyers (Université catholique de Louvain)

Additional information is available for the following registered author(s):

Abstract

Books are an important factor of cultural transmission, but need, in most cases, to be translated. According to some authors, this may lead to a form of cultural domination of English. The population speaking English as a first language is, with the exception of Mandarin, the largest in the world. It is therefore not surprising that English produces more fiction (and much more scientific literature, as scientists from all countries write in English with increasing frequency) than any other language. We develop a theoretical model of translation, which is estimated on the basis of UNESCO translation data. We show that translations from English are dominated by translations from other languages, including Scandinavian ones and French.

Download Info
To download:

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. Information about this may be contained in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.

File URL: http://www.feem.it/NR/rdonlyres/706ED8E5-7F3B-4BDD-8F48-FE67909D732A/2528/1208.pdf
File Format: application/pdf
File Function:
Download Restriction: no

Publisher Info
Paper provided by Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei in its series Working Papers with number 2008.12.

Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML (with abstract), plain text (with abstract), BibTeX, RIS (EndNote, RefMan, ProCite), ReDIF
Length:
Date of creation: Feb 2008
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:fem:femwpa:2008.12

Contact details of provider:
Postal: Corso Magenta, 63 - 20123 Milan
Phone: 0039-2-52036934
Fax: 0039-2-52036946
Email:
Web page: http://www.feem.it/
More information through EDIRC

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: (barbara racah).

Related research
Keywords: Languages; Translations; Cultural and Linguistic Distances;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
L82 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Entertainment; Media
Z11 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economics of the Arts and Literature

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

Statistics
Access and download statistics

Did you know? IDEAS also indexes books.

This page was last updated on 2009-12-3.

This information is provided to you by IDEAS at the Department of Economics, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Connecticut using RePEc data on a server sponsored by the Society for Economic Dynamics.