The Role of Languages in International Trade Disputes

Authors

  • Quamrul Alam School of Business and Law, Central Queensland University, Melbourne, Australia Author
  • Fahmida Mostafiz Department of International Business, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.56567/pmis.v1i1.1

Keywords:

Trade Disputes, Language similarity, Language Barriers, Common Spoken Language, WTO official languages

Abstract

This paper examines the role of languages in international trade disputes using a comprehensive data set of 160 countries covering 565 WTO trade dispute cases from 1995 to 2018. In international trade disputes, languages play a notable positive role either as a language similarity or as a language barrier. The findings indicate that language-like trading countries tend to be more actively involved in trade disputes, such as similarity in spoken language between trading countries increase trade disputes likelihood by 0.34% and language similarity with both trade partners and WTO increase trade disputes probability by 0.79%, suggesting that more communication and negotiating capacity increase the probability of trade disputes. The findings further indicate that trade partners having language barriers are also involved in trade conflicts with an average probability of 0.19 %, which implies language barriers increase ineffective communication and misunderstandings. English and Spanish speaking countries participation in trade disputes are noteworthy. This paper contributes to the existing literature by illustrating the role of languages as language similarity and barriers with inherent communication, negotiation capacity, and incapacity channels in international trade disputes. Keywords: Trade Disputes, Language similarity, Language Barriers, Common Spoken Language, WTO official languages.

Author Biographies

  • Quamrul Alam, School of Business and Law, Central Queensland University, Melbourne, Australia

    QUAMRUL ALAM is a Professor of International Business and Strategy, School of Business and Law at Central Queensland University, Melbourne, Australia. He joined CQUniversity in March 2018. Before joining CQUniversity, Prof. Alam worked at Monash University (2003– 2018), La Trobe University (1996–2003), Victoria University (1993– 1995), The Australian National University (1985) and the University of Dhaka (1980–1994). Professor Alam received his PhD in Development Economics from Flinders University in South Australia and an MA in Economics from Manchester University. He completed his BA (Hons) and MA in Public Administration from the University of Dhaka. He has published over 60 journal articles, 16 book chapters and five books. His articles have been published in the Thunderbird Journal of Business Review, European Journal of Management, Administration and Society, Public Administration and Development, Public Management Review, International Review of Administrative Sciences, Australian Journal of Public Administration, International Journal of Public Administration, Journal of Management History, South Asia, Local Government Studies, Human Resource Management Journal, Energy Policy and Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy.

  • Fahmida Mostafiz, Department of International Business, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh

    FAHMIDA MOStAFIZ is an Assistant Professor of International Business, Faculty of Business Studies at University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh. She completed her BBA and MBA from the Department of International Business before lecturing at University of Dhaka. Recently, She completed her Ph.D study major in Applied Economics at the School of Economics and Finance, South China University of Technology, China. Her research interests are on international trade and the resolution of trade disputes. She is also interested in working on trade policy, industrial policies, FDI, cultural economics, tariff barriers and non-tariff barriers, economic protectionism and interdependence. She has published research articles in national and international journals.

Downloads

Published

2024-05-17

Issue

Vol. 1 No. 1 (2022)

Section

Original Research

License

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

The Role of Languages in International Trade Disputes. (2024). PMIS Review, 1(1), p.1-38. https://doi.org/10.56567/pmis.v1i1.1