Language areas in the global economy

• Autor(a) principal: Ramos Silva, Joaquim
• Data de Publicação: 2001
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.5/24255
• topic: Economics of Linguistic Issues; Globalization; Free Trade; International Mobility of Factors

The relationship between economics and language, which is growing in the literature, has raised a broad range of issues. From a global perspective, the case for common language areas, i.e., binding different countries, by its deep economic implications, is one of the most relevant. Indeed, on this basis, economic advantages and new opportunities arise in global markets to the benefit of producers and consumers. But, governments, multinational corporations, and international organizations also play a major role in such a process. First of all, it must be stressed that the emergence of common language areas is natural, and does not require high formal costs. In addition, unlike regional integration, they need not formally discriminate against third countries. However, taking into account their expected returns, governments are now trying to design and implement linguistic policies. As a consequence of this, counterproductive effects may loom, but the risk of conflicts stemming from them are relatively low in the context of globalization. So, a world economy where common language areas play a significant role can be quite positive insofar as intermediate objectives of this kind tend to favor global trade liberalization and free international competition. Summing up, these areas can be a complement to regional integration and other processes of the global economy in order to ensure a sound and open atmosphere with a continuous outward orientation.