Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP9144
Authors: Dohshin Jeon; Bruno Jullien; Mikhail M. Klimenko
Abstract: The World Wide Web was originally a totally English-based medium due to its US origin. Although the presence of other languages has steadily risen, content in English is still dominant, which raises a natural question of how bilingualism of consumers of a home country affects production of web content in the home language and domestic welfare? In this paper, we address this question by studying how bilingualism affects competition between a foreign search engine and a domestic one within a small country and thereby production of home language content. We find that bilingualism unambiguously softens platform competition, which in turn can induce a reduction in home language content and in home country's welfare. In particular, it is possible that content in the foreign language crowds out so much content in the home language that consumers enjoy less content when they are bilingual than when they are monolingual.
Keywords: bilingualism; international trade; language; platform; search engine; two-sided market
JEL Codes: D21; D43; F12; F61; L13; L86
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Bilingualism (J61) | platform competition (L17) |
| platform competition (L17) | reduction in home language content (I24) |
| reduction in home language content (I24) | domestic welfare (I38) |
| Bilingualism (J61) | reduction in home language content (I24) |
| Bilingualism (J61) | domestic welfare (I38) |
| Bilingualism (J61) | foreign platform's market share (F23) |
| foreign platform's market share (F23) | domestic content production (L82) |
| Bilingualism (J61) | domestic content production (L82) |
| Bilingualism (J61) | welfare outcomes (I38) |