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Languages, genes and cultures

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Ginsburgh, Victor [Université Libre de Bruxelles]

This paper examines three situations in which distances between languages, genes, and cultures matter. The first is concerned with the determinants that govern the learning of foreign languages. One of these is the difficulty of the foreign language, represented by the distance between the native and the foreign language. The second case deals with the formation and breaking-up of nations. Here, it is suggested that genetic distances between regions with diversified populations (such as between the Basque country and the rest of Spain) need to be compensated by more generous transfer systems if the nation wants to avoid secession-prone behavior. The last case looks at a very popular cultural event, the Eurovision Song Contest, in which nations are represented by singers who are ranked by an international jury that consists of citizens chosen in each participating country. It is shown that what is often considered as logrolling in voting behavior is rather generated by voting for culturally and linguistically close neighbors.

Document type Article de périodique (Journal article)
Publication date 2005
Language Anglais
Journal information "Journal of Cultural Economics" - Vol. 29, no. 1, p. 1-17 (Février 2005)
Peer reviewed yes
Publisher Springer New York LLC (New York, USA)
issn 0885-2545
e-issn 1573-6997
Publication status Publié
Affiliations Université Libre de Bruxelles - ECARES
UCL - EUEN/CORE - Center for operations research and econometrics
Links
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Bibliographic reference Ginsburgh, Victor. Languages, genes and cultures. In: Journal of Cultural Economics, Vol. 29, no. 1, p. 1-17 (Février 2005)
Permanent URL http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/23671