The language and geographic scope of cultural and media products

• Authors: Ramon Caminal.
• Journal of Cultural Economics, May 2025.

This paper presents a theoretical framework for studying language choices in cultural and media markets. From a positive point of view, the analysis emphasizes that the share of consumption in the minority language in a specific product category crucially depends on the availability of content with a local focus (targeting local consumers). We argue that such a prediction can help rationalize the large dispersion in the presence of the minority language across different product categories widely observed. In the case of Catalonia, we document that the percentage of consumption in the minority language (Catalan) provided by private firms is quite large for theater, negligible for cinema and television, and intermediate for books and radio. Differences in the relative weight of content with a local focus can account for a substantial portion of this dispersion. From a normative point of view, we show that market forces tend to provide too few products in the minority language relative to the social optimum (insufficient linguistic diversity), even when products with a local focus abound. Public policies fostering local content and the use of the minority language are also discussed.