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Welfare-optimal Status Planning of Minority Languages: An Economic Approach

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  • Bengt-Arne Wickström

Abstract

We analyze normatively determined distributions of language rights in multilingual settings. It is shown in a welfare-maximizing model where rights today influence the status of a language in the future, that the “naïve” ex ante cost-benefit analysis has to be augmented in various directions. This has its roots in the dynamic aspect of the rights and the resulting endogeneity of preferences as well as in the discrete character of rights. It is shown how efficiency and distribution considerations are affected by these considerations.

Suggested Citation

  • Bengt-Arne Wickström, 2011. "Welfare-optimal Status Planning of Minority Languages: An Economic Approach," CESifo Working Paper Series 3427, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_3427
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. 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.
    2. Jeffrey Church & Ian King, 1993. "Bilingualism and Network Externalities," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 26(2), pages 337-345, May.
    3. Pio Baake & Rainald Borck (ed.), 2007. "Public Economics and Public Choice," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-3-540-72782-8, January.
    4. François Grin, 1992. "Towards a Threshold Theory of Minority Language Survival," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(1), pages 69-97, February.
    5. Patriarca, Marco & Leppänen, Teemu, 2004. "Modeling language competition," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 338(1), pages 296-299.
    6. Bengt-Arne Wickstrom, 2005. "Can Bilingualism be Dynamically Stable?," Rationality and Society, , vol. 17(1), pages 81-115, February.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    minority rights; changeable preferences; dynamic preferences; welfare function; second-best analysis; overlapping generations;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement

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