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July 25, 2007
Linguistic seigniorage
Seigniorage is the net revenue that accrues to the state from printing money. That is, when you print a $20 bill for 2 cents and then sell it to banks for the full price, the $19.98 is seigniorage. The economist in their article Linguistic follies: The economic consequences of the rise of English, points out their there is enormous economic rents associated with exporting a language as well. I like to call this profit "linguistic seigniorage", because it costs England very little to make an additional English speaker and though their are private benefits, England gets to keep much of the benefits from controlling much of the local supply of native speakers. Here are some details:
François Grin, a Swiss economist, argues that Britain enjoys hidden transfers from its neighbours worth billions of euros a year, thanks to the English language. He offers several reasons, starting with spending in Britain on language teaching in schools, which is proportionately lower than in France or Switzerland, say. To add insult to injury, Britain profits from teaching English to foreigners. “Elevating one language to a position of dominance is tantamount to giving a huge handout to the country or countries that use it as a native language,” he insists.
Posted by OneEyedMan at July 25, 2007 10:48 AM
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