| Abstract | This is an era of economic globalization. With the globalization of the economy, there is more and more communication among different cultures or regions, and language plays a very important role in the world economy. The economics of language, as a new interdisciplinary branch of economics, has been quietly in the making for the last 40 years. Then, (1) What is the economics of language and what is its nature as a subject? In other words, for what kind of problems has the economics of language emerged to solve? (2) What has the study of the economics of language involved, and how? (3) What relationship really exists between language and economics? Based upon such a relationship, what will its possible direction be in future development? This paper tries to answer these questions by giving a comprehensive survey (especially more recent developments) of the economics of language. I make a synthesis on its current studies, analyze the nature and scope of the economics of language, and discuss the prospect of the economic approach to language. I find that besides the traditional study of the economics of language, the institutional economic study of language and the application of game theory in language issues are very promising directions for the future research. |