Economics of language

The economics of language is an emerging field of study concerning a range of topics such as the effect of language skills on income and trade, the costs and benefits of language planning options, the preservation of minority languages, etc. It is relevant to analysis of language policy.

In his book 'Language and Economy', the German sociolinguist Florian Coulmas discusses "the many ways in which language and economy interact, how economic developments influence the emergence, expansion, or decline of languages; how linguistic conditions facilitate or obstruct the economic process; how multilingualism and social affluence are interrelated; how and why language and money fulfill similar functions in modern societies; why the availability of a standard language is an economic advantage; how the unequal distribution of languages in multilingual societies makes for economic inequality; how the economic value of languages can be assessed; why languages have an internal economy and how they adapt to the demands of the external economy. Florian Coulmas asserts that language is the medium of business, an asset in itself and sometimes a barrier to trade".

States shoulder language costs, because it maintains themselves by means of it, as does business which needs communication competence. Florian Coulmas discusses the language-related expenditures of government and business in Language and economy. In the same book he also discusses the role of language as a commodity, because languages can behave like economic systems. That is why socio-economic ecologies are (dis)favorable to particular languages. The spread of languages depends in an essential way on economic conditions. Language can be an expression of symbolic power. However, changes in the linguistic map of the world show that these are also powerful linked to economic developments in the world. Assigning an economic value to a certain language in the linguistic market place means vesting it with some of the privileges and power related to that language. Most language communities in the world practice this policy without any concern about reciprocity in language learning investments, forgetting the pursuit of linguistic justice as parity of esteem and while linguistic regimes are sometimes very unjust. States must also face decisions regarding the extent of trade-offs between economic inefficiency and linguistic disenfranchisement.