The Economics of Language (The International Library of Critical Writings in Economics, 150)

Observing that technology is now taking a central place in the field of economics, Lamberton (visiting fellow, public policy, Australian National U.) argues that the "oldest and most public of technologies, language" be given a central role as well. After making the case for the importance of language in economics, he presents 20 contributions that attempt to do just that, exploring theoretical approaches, the impact of language on profits and wages, socio-economic aspects of language policies, and the use of information technologies to mitigate linguistic barriers. The papers have all been previously published, appearing between 1965 and 2000, but mostly drawn from the 1990s. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)