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Ranking Languages in the European Union: Before and After Brexit

Author

Listed:
  • Victor Ginsburgh

    (ECARES, Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium, and CORE, Universite catholique de Louvain, Belgium)

  • Juan D. Moreno-Ternero

    (Department of Economics, Universidad Pablo de Olavide; CORE, Université catholique de Louvain)

  • Shlomo Weber

    (Department of Economics, Southern Methodist University, USA, New Economic School, Moscow, Russia, and Department of Economics, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia)

Abstract

This article presents a framework for evaluation of the impact of languages in multilingual societies. We consider several ranking methods based on various principles, including minimal disenfranchisement, communicative benefits, utilitarianism, and the game-theoretical concept of the Shapley Value. We use data from a Special Barometer survey to apply these methods to languages within the European Union and conclude that they generate quite consistent results. Finally, we analyse the impact of Brexit on the rankings, especially in the case where English forfeits its status as an official language of the Union.

Suggested Citation

  • Victor Ginsburgh & Juan D. Moreno-Ternero & Shlomo Weber, 2017. "Ranking Languages in the European Union: Before and After Brexit," Working Papers 17.07, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:pab:wpaper:17.07
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Victor Ginsburgh & Shlomo Weber, 2016. "The Palgrave Handbook of Economics and Language," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/277408, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    2. Ginsburgh, Victor & Fidrmuc, Jan & Weber, Shlomo, 2007. "Ever Closer Union or Babylonian Discord? The Official-language Problem in the European Union," CEPR Discussion Papers 6367, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    3. Victor Ginsburgh & Shlomo Weber, 2005. "Language Disenfranchisement in the European Union," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(2), pages 273-286, June.
    4. Victor Ginsburgh & Ignacio Ortuño-Ortín & Shlomo Weber, 2005. "Disenfranchisement In Linguistically Diverse Societies: The Case Of The European Union," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 3(4), pages 946-965, June.
    5. Alcalde-Unzu, Jorge & Vorsatz, Marc, 2009. "Size approval voting," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 144(3), pages 1187-1210, May.
    6. Ginsburgh, Victor & Zang, Israel, 2003. "The museum pass game and its value," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 322-325, May.
    7. Claude Hillinger, 2005. "The Case for Utilitarian Voting," Homo Oeconomicus, Institute of SocioEconomics, vol. 23, pages 295-321.
    8. Brams, Steven J. & Fishburn, Peter C., 1978. "Approval Voting," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 72(3), pages 831-847, September.
    9. Shapley, L. S. & Shubik, Martin, 1954. "A Method for Evaluating the Distribution of Power in a Committee System," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 48(3), pages 787-792, September.
    10. Ginsburgh, Victor & Zang, Israël, 2012. "Shapley Ranking of Wines," Journal of Wine Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 7(2), pages 169-180, November.
    11. Sawyer, Jack & MacRae, Duncan, 1962. "Game Theory and Cumulative Voting in Illinois: 1902–1954," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 56(4), pages 936-946, December.
    12. Gerald J. Glasser, 1959. "Game Theory and Cumulative Voting for Corporate Directors," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 5(2), pages 151-156, January.
    13. Jan Fidrmuc & Victor Ginsburgh & Schlomo Weber, 2007. "Ever Closer Union or Babylonian Discord?," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series wp887, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
    14. Alberto Alesina & Eliana La Ferrara, 2003. "Ethnic Diversity and Economic Performance," Harvard Institute of Economic Research Working Papers 2028, Harvard - Institute of Economic Research.
    15. Bergantiños, Gustavo & Moreno-Ternero, Juan D., 2015. "The axiomatic approach to the problem of sharing the revenue from museum passes," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 78-92.
    16. Victor Ginsburgh & Shlomo Weber, 2011. "How Many Languages Do We Need? The Economics of Linguistic Diversity," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 9481.
    17. Winter, Eyal, 2002. "The shapley value," Handbook of Game Theory with Economic Applications, in: R.J. Aumann & S. Hart (ed.), Handbook of Game Theory with Economic Applications, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 53, pages 2025-2054, Elsevier.
    18. Antonin Macé, 2017. "Voting with evaluations: characterizations of evaluative voting and range voting," Working Papers halshs-01222200, HAL.
    19. Blackorby, Charles & Bossert, Walter & Donaldson, David, 2002. "Utilitarianism and the theory of justice," 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 1, chapter 11, pages 543-596, Elsevier.
    20. Efthymios Athanasiou & Juan D. Moreno-Ternero & Shlomo Weber, 2015. "Language learning and communicative benefits," Working Papers 15.09, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Department of Economics.
    21. Yongsheng Xu, 2010. "Axiomatizations of Approval Voting," Studies in Choice and Welfare, in: Jean-François Laslier & M. Remzi Sanver (ed.), Handbook on Approval Voting, chapter 0, pages 91-102, Springer.
    22. Fishburn, Peter C., 1978. "Axioms for approval voting: Direct proof," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 180-185, October.
    23. Jean-François Laslier & M. Remzi Sanver (ed.), 2010. "Handbook on Approval Voting," Studies in Choice and Welfare, Springer, number 978-3-642-02839-7, July.
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    Cited by:

    1. Algaba, Encarnación & Béal, Sylvain & Fragnelli, Vito & Llorca, Natividad & Sánchez-Soriano, Joaquin, 2019. "Relationship between labeled network games and other cooperative games arising from attributes situations," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    2. Karol Król & Dariusz Zdonek, 2023. "Cultural Heritage Topics in Online Queries: A Comparison between English- and Polish-Speaking Internet Users," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-20, March.
    3. Alcalde-Unzu, Jorge & Moreno-Ternero, Juan D. & Weber, Shlomo, 2022. "The measurement of the value of a language," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 203(C).
    4. Victor Ginsburgh & Juan D. Moreno-Ternero, 2018. "On Poverty and the International Allocation of Development Aid," Working Papers 18.15, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Department of Economics.
    5. Victor Ginsburgh & Shlomo Weber, 2020. "The Economics of Language," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 58(2), pages 348-404, June.
    6. Sivaram Cheruvu, 2019. "How do institutional constraints affect judicial decision-making? The European Court of Justice’s French language mandate," European Union Politics, , vol. 20(4), pages 562-583, December.
    7. Olivier Gergaud & Victor Ginsburgh & Juan D. Moreno-Ternero, 2020. "Wine Ratings," Working Papers ECARES 2020-38, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    8. Liberini, Federica & Oswald, Andrew J. & Proto, Eugenio & Redoano, Michela, 2019. "Was Brexit triggered by the old and unhappy? Or by financial feelings?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 287-302.
    9. Victor Ginsburgh & Juan D. Moreno-Ternero, 2019. "A Lingua Franca in the post-Brexit EU," Working Papers 19.10, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Department of Economics.
    10. Victor Ginsburgh & Juan D. Moreno‐Ternero, 2022. "Brexit and multilingualism in the European Union," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 73(2), pages 708-731, May.
    11. Gergaud, Olivier & Ginsburgh, Victor & Moreno-Ternero, Juan D., 2021. "Wine Ratings: Seeking a Consensus among Tasters via Normalization, Approval, and Aggregation," Journal of Wine Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 16(3), pages 321-342, August.
    12. Liberini, Federica & Oswald, Andrew J & Proto, Eugenio & Redoano, Michela, 2017. "Was Brexit Caused by the Unhappy and the Old?," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 342, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    13. Ricardo Mart'inez & Joaqu'in S'anchez-Soriano, 2023. "Order preservation with dummies in the musseum pass problem," Papers 2307.00622, arXiv.org.
    14. Victor Ginsburgh & Juan D. Moreno‐Ternero, 2018. "Compensation schemes for learning a Lingua Franca in the European Union," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(7), pages 1775-1789, July.
    15. Victor Ginsburgh & Juan D. Moreno-Ternero, 2023. "The Eurovision Song Contest: voting rules, biases and rationality," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 47(2), pages 247-277, June.
    16. Neriman HOCAOĞLU BAHADIR, 2020. "The official language status of English within the EU institutions after Brexit," Eastern Journal of European Studies, Centre for European Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, vol. 11, pages 293-308, June.
    17. Ricardo Martínez & Joaquín Sánchez-Soriano, 2021. "Social solidarity with dummies in the museum pass problem," ThE Papers 21/11, Department of Economic Theory and Economic History of the University of Granada..
    18. Gustavo Bergantiños & Christian Trudeau, 2024. "Monotonicity and the value of a language," Working Papers 2403, University of Windsor, Department of Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Ranking methods; European Union; Communicative benefits; Linguistic disenfranchisement; Official languages;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C78 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Bargaining Theory; Matching Theory
    • D61 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Allocative Efficiency; Cost-Benefit Analysis
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement

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