Arbeitspapier
Foreign Languages and Trade
Cultural factors and especially common languages are well-known determinants of trade. By contrast, the knowledge of foreign languages was not explored in the literature so far. We combine traditional gravity models with data on fluency in the main languages used in EU and candidate countries. We show that widespread knowledge of languages is an important determinant for foreign trade, with English playing an especially important role. The robustness of our results is confirmed by a natural experiment of trade between Eastern and Western Europe.
- Language
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Englisch
- Bibliographic citation
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Series: CESifo Working Paper ; No. 4670
- Classification
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Wirtschaft
Single Equation Models; Single Variables: Panel Data Models; Spatio-temporal Models
Economic Integration
Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance: General
Cultural Economics; Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology: General
- Subject
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gravity model
foreign trade
economics of languages
natural experiment
median regression
quantile regression
- Event
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Geistige Schöpfung
- (who)
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Fidrmuc, Jan
Fidrmuc, Jarko
- Event
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Veröffentlichung
- (who)
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Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo)
- (where)
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Munich
- (when)
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2014
- Handle
- Last update
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20.09.2024, 8:24 AM CEST
Data provider
ZBW - Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Wirtschaftswissenschaften - Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft. If you have any questions about the object, please contact the data provider.
Object type
- Arbeitspapier
Associated
- Fidrmuc, Jan
- Fidrmuc, Jarko
- Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo)
Time of origin
- 2014