IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ces/ceswps/_2956.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Optimal Babel - An Economic Framework for the Analysis of Dynamic Language Rights

Author

Listed:
  • Bengt-Arne Wickström

Abstract

We analyze various normatively determined distributions of language rights in multilingual settings. A general model for the analysis of language rights over time in a model with overlapping generations is set up. This model is then first used to find efficient allocations of rights in the tradition of Wicksell. It is shown that, when rights today influence the status of a language in the future, the “naïve” static analysis has to be augmented in favor of further-reaching minority rights in order to take into account the dynamic aspect. It is then demonstrated that a traditional welfare-economic analysis generally goes even further in the support of minority rights. If a possible externality on other communities is taken into account, however, these results are reversed in a pure efficiency analysis. If redistribution arguments are taken into account, this provides an effect in the opposite direction again.

Suggested Citation

  • Bengt-Arne Wickström, 2010. "The Optimal Babel - An Economic Framework for the Analysis of Dynamic Language Rights," CESifo Working Paper Series 2956, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_2956
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cesifo.org/DocDL/cesifo1_wp2956.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jeffrey Church & Ian King, 1993. "Bilingualism and Network Externalities," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 26(2), pages 337-345, May.
    2. Varian, Hal R., 1974. "Equity, envy, and efficiency," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 63-91, September.
    3. Philippe Van Parijs, 2002. "Linguistic Justice," Politics, Philosophy & Economics, , vol. 1(1), pages 59-74, February.
    4. Pazner, Elisha A., 1977. "Pitfalls in the theory of fairness," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 458-466, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bengt-Arne Wickström, 2013. "The optimal Babel: an economic framework for the analysis of dynamic language rights," Chapters, in: Francisco Cabrillo & Miguel A. Puchades-Navarro (ed.), Constitutional Economics and Public Institutions, chapter 18, pages 322-344, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    2. Barrett, Christopher B., 1996. "Fairness, stewardship and sustainable development," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 11-17, October.
    3. Shinji Yamashige, 1995. "Fairness in Markets and Government Policies," Working Papers yamashig-95-03, University of Toronto, Department of Economics.
    4. Chiara Donnini & Marialaura Pesce, 2023. "Fairness and formation rules of coalitions," International Journal of Economic Theory, The International Society for Economic Theory, vol. 19(4), pages 933-960, December.
    5. Jean-Paul Chavas & Jay Coggins, 2003. "On fairness and welfare analysis under uncertainty," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 20(2), pages 203-228, March.
    6. Jose Aizpurua & Antonio Manresa, 1994. "A decentralized and informationally efficient mechanism realizing fair outcomes in economies with public goods," Review of Economic Design, Springer;Society for Economic Design, vol. 1(1), pages 141-158, December.
    7. Chavas, Jean-Paul, 2008. "On fair allocations," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 258-272, October.
    8. Thomson, William, 2011. "Chapter Twenty-One - Fair Allocation Rules," Handbook of Social Choice and Welfare, in: K. J. Arrow & A. K. Sen & K. Suzumura (ed.), Handbook of Social Choice and Welfare, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 21, pages 393-506, Elsevier.
    9. Gil Epstein & Shmuel Nitzan, 2006. "The struggle over migration policy," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 19(4), pages 703-723, October.
    10. Núñez, Matías & Laslier, Jean-François, 2015. "Bargaining through Approval," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 63-73.
    11. Sperlich, Stefan & Uriarte Ayo, José Ramón, 2014. "The Economics of "Why is it so hard to save a threatened Language?"," IKERLANAK info:eu-repo/grantAgreeme, Universidad del País Vasco - Departamento de Fundamentos del Análisis Económico I.
    12. Victor Ginsburgh & Shlomo Weber, 2020. "The Economics of Language," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 58(2), pages 348-404, June.
    13. Chiara Donnini & Marialaura Pesce, 2020. "Strict fairness of equilibria in asymmetric information economies and mixed markets," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 69(1), pages 107-124, February.
    14. Jean Gabszewicz & Victor Ginsburgh & Shlomo Weber, 2011. "Bilingualism and Communicative Benefits," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 101-102, pages 271-286.
    15. Victor Ginsburgh & Jacques Melitz & Farid Toubal, 2014. "Foreign Language Learning : An Econometric Analysis," Working Papers 2014-21, Center for Research in Economics and Statistics.
    16. Sebastian von Engelhardt & Sushmita Swaminathan, 2008. "Open Source Software, Closed Source Software or Both: Impacts on Industry Growth and the Role of Intellectual Property Rights," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 799, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    17. Meertens, Marc & Potters, Jos & Reijnierse, Hans, 2002. "Envy-free and Pareto efficient allocations in economies with indivisible goods and money," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 44(3), pages 223-233, December.
    18. Nikhil Garg & Ashish Goel & Benjamin Plaut, 2021. "Markets for public decision-making," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 56(4), pages 755-801, May.
    19. Biung†Ghi Ju & Juan D. Moreno†Ternero, 2017. "Fair Allocation Of Disputed Properties," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 58(4), pages 1279-1301, November.
    20. de Clippel, Geoffroy, 2008. "Equity, envy and efficiency under asymmetric information," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 99(2), pages 265-267, May.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    equivalence principle; minority rights; changeable preferences; dynamic preferences; welfare economics; overlapping generations;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D61 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Allocative Efficiency; Cost-Benefit Analysis
    • D62 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Externalities
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • D69 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Other

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_2956. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Klaus Wohlrabe (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cesifde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.