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Geographical Origins and Economic Consequences of Language Structures

Author

Listed:
  • Galor, Oded
  • Sarid, Assaf
Abstract
This research explores the economic causes and consequences of language structures. It advances the hypothesis and establishes empirically that variations in pre-industrial geographical characteristics that were conducive to higher returns to agricultural investment, gender gaps in agricultural productivity, and the emergence of hierarchical societies, are at the root of existing cross-language variations in the structure of the future tense and the presence of grammatical gender and politeness distinctions. Moreover, the research suggests that while language structures have largely reflected past human experience and ancestral cultural traits, they have independently affected human behavior and economic outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Galor, Oded & Sarid, Assaf, 2017. "Geographical Origins and Economic Consequences of Language Structures," CEPR Discussion Papers 11917, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11917
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Comparative development; Cultural evolution; Language structure; Future tense; Politeness distinctions; Grammatical gender; Human capital; Education;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D01 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Microeconomic Behavior: Underlying Principles
    • D03 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Behavioral Microeconomics: Underlying Principles
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • Z10 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - General
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

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