The economics of language remains neglected territory. Language makes information operational. As a social technology, it is a resource of the symbolic species - some argue it defines the human species. Language affects ability to find employment; cultural identity, effective communication in business, international trade, and tourism; negotiations and settlement procedures; political activity; and conflict within and between nations.Donald Lamberton, a leading scholar in the field, has selected key papers which address issues such as why some languages survive and others do not, the importance of language to the operation of a world-wide business, the problem of the language divide in economic development and the future of new language technologies such as telephone interpreting services, the internet and talking machines.

This authoritative collection of papers contributes, in the words of Jacob Marschak, to 'the essential stuff of economics, in particular the economics of uncertainty that characterizes problems of human information, communication and organization'.