Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/93408 
Year of Publication: 
2014
Series/Report no.: 
CESifo Working Paper No. 4670
Publisher: 
Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo), Munich
Abstract: 
Cultural factors and especially common languages are well-known determinants of trade. By contrast, the knowledge of foreign languages was not explored in the literature so far. We combine traditional gravity models with data on fluency in the main languages used in EU and candidate countries. We show that widespread knowledge of languages is an important determinant for foreign trade, with English playing an especially important role. The robustness of our results is confirmed by a natural experiment of trade between Eastern and Western Europe.
Subjects: 
gravity model
foreign trade
economics of languages
natural experiment
median regression
quantile regression
JEL: 
C23
F15
F40
Z10
Document Type: 
Working Paper
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