{"product_id":"how-many-languages-do-we-need-the-economics-of-linguistic-diversity-9780691136899","title":"How Many Languages Do We Need  The Economics of","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the global economy, linguistic diversity influences economic and political development as well as public policies in positive and negative ways. This title examines linguistic diversity as a global social phenomenon and considers what degree of linguistic variety might result in the greatest economic good.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"In their intriguing book How Many Languages Do We Need?, Victor Ginsburgh and Shlomo Weber illuminate how language diversity affects growth, trade and economic development.\"--David Throsby, Times Literary Supplement \"This is a good book--clear, comprehensive, and easy to read. Ginsburgh and Weber cover several topics, including linguistic policies, diversity and standardization, economic costs and benefits, and multilingualism as a source of conflict and sometimes war.\"--Choice \"[V]ery few books have been written on the economics of linguistic diversity, and this book takes a valuable step towards remedying this situation. It offers a nice nontechnical overview of the field, and has something interesting to offer to economists, sociologists, and linguists interested in linguistic diversity, language policy, and their implications.\"--Isabelle Sin, Journal of Economic History \"In sum, their book is a fascinating, thought-provoking introduction to a large body of work at the frontier of a new, exciting area of economic research, which includes not only the economics of linguistic diversity, but, more generally, the economics of culture and institutions.\"--Enrico Spolaore, Journal of Regional Science \"[T]his book makes a welcome contribution by providing a simple and succinct presentation of an otherwise complex interdisciplinary problem. In comparison to much of the Economics literature, it provides a far more nuanced picture of linguistic diversity and the associated policy challenges.\"--Vikas Kumar, Journal of Economic Issues \"This is an essential book for all the policymakers, linguists, and language ideologues who will not understand the mathematics of the economists' calculations.\"--Anthony Pym, European Legacy\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAcknowledgments ix  Introduction 1  Chapter 1: My Language IsMy Homeland 7      Chapter 2: Linguistic Policies, Disenfranchisement, and Standardization 16  1. Linguistic Diversity: A Brief Look at the Past 16  2. Linguistic Standardization: Roots, Benefits, and Some Examples 18  3. Some Painful Aspects of Standardization 21  4. HowMany Languages: IsMore theMerrier, or Is Small Beautiful? 26  5. Summary 28      Chapter 3: Linguistic, Genetic, and Cultural Distances: How Far Is Nostratic? 29  1. Languages and Dialects 30  2. Distances between Languages 33  3. Distances between Groups 48  4. Summary 55      Chapter 4: DistancesMatter 56  1. International Trade 57  2. Migrations 63  3. Literary Translations 65  4. The Eurovision Song Contest: Is Voting Political or Cultural? 74  5. Summary 82      Chapter 5: Individual Communicative Benefits 84  1. Modeling Language Learning 86  2. Demand Functions for Languages 93  3. Private Returns on Languages 98  4. Summary 107      Chapter 6: Diversity and Disenfranchisement Indices 108  1. Fractionalization and Polarization Indices 110  2. Disenfranchisement Indices 126  3. Links between Fractionalization, Disenfranchisement, and Communication Indices 137  4. Summary 139  5. Appendix: Numerical Calculation of the Various Disenfranchisement Indices 140      Chapter 7: Diversity and Disenfranchisement: Applications 142  1. Fractionalization and Polarization Indices 143  2. Disenfranchisement Indices: The Example of the EU 151  3. Summary 160      Chapter 8: Multilingualism in the European Union: A Case Study in Linguistic Policy 162  1. Twenty-three Languages, and More to Come 162  2. Possible Solutions 177  3. Summary 199      Conclusions 201  Bibliography 205  Index 223","brand":"Princeton University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49403760705879,"sku":"9780691136899","price":40.5,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780691136899.jpg?v=1730484460","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/how-many-languages-do-we-need-the-economics-of-linguistic-diversity-9780691136899","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}