公共产品视角的语言供给经济学分析——以教育部调整汉字写法为例

Analysis of the Economics of Language Supply from the Perspective of Public Goods—Taking Ministry of Education’s Regulating Chinese Writing as an Example

网络效应、语言的政策性和语言滥用的市场失灵使语言的公共产品属性进一步强化。语言是公共产品但不是纯公共产品,宜采用以政府供给为主、其他主体供给为辅的混合供给方式;语言的使用主体具有层次分明的特点,因而语言的供给要采用分类供给形式;作为公共产品的语言,其供给过程要充分考虑使用主体的偏好和意愿;语言的调整是制度变迁的一种体现,要充分考虑到语言调整的路径依赖性,并将其纳入到制度变迁的成本中予以考虑。政府作为掌控资源的语言规划的决策者,在语言调整的博弈过程中,要做到中立,最大限度地反映主流文化和主流使用主体的意愿。

Network effect,the policy on language and the market disorder of language abuse further consolidate the attribution of public goods of language. Language is public goods but language is not pure public goods and should be mainly supplied by government and by other secondary supply methods. The use of the language has the characteristics of obvious hierarchy,so the supply of the language should use classified supply methods. The language,as public goods,should sufficiently consider the preference and willing of using subjects in the process of supply. The adjustment of the language is a kind of embodiment of institutional evolution and should sufficiently consider its path dependence and should be brought into the cost of institutional evolution for the considering. The government,as a decision-maker of language plan in mastered resources,should be neutral and reflect the willing of mainstream culture and mainstream users to maximum extent in the process of the game of language adjustment.