Book Translations as Idea Flows: The Effects of the Collapse of Communism on the Diffusion of Knowledge Ran Abramitzky and Isabelle Sin Motu Working Paper 12-05 Motu Economic and Public Policy Research May 2012 Author contact details Ran Abramitzky Stanford University and NBER
[email protected] Isabelle Sin Motu Economic and Public Policy Research
[email protected] Acknowledgements We are grateful to Nathan Nunn, Manuel Amador, Kamran Bilir, Nick Bloom, Aaron Bodoh-Creed, Albie Bollard, Tim Bresnahan, Elan Dagenais, Doireann Fitzgerald, Paul Gregory, Avner Greif, Caroline Hoxby, Nir Jaimovich, Seema Jayachandran, Pete Klenow, Naomi Lamoreaux, Ed Leamer, Aprajit Mahajan, Roy Mill, Neale Mahoney, John Pencavel, Luigi Pistaferri, Gary Richardson, Robert Staiger, Alessandra Voena, Romain Wacziarg, Gui Woolston, Gavin Wright, and participants of numerous seminars and conferences for most useful suggestions. We owe special thanks to the Index Translationum team, especially Alain Brion, Mauro Rosi, and Marius Tukaj for providing us with the translation data. Isabelle Sin gratefully acknowledges financial support from the Ric Weiland fellowship. Motu Economic and Public Policy Research PO Box 24390 Wellington New Zealand Email
[email protected] Telephone +64 4 9394250 Website www.motu.org.nz © 2012 Motu Economic and Public Policy Research Trust and the authors. Short extracts, not exceeding two paragraphs, may be quoted provided clear attribution is given. Motu Working Papers are research materials circulated by their authors for purposes of information and discussion. They have not necessarily undergone formal peer review or editorial treatment. ISSN 1176-2667 (Print), ISSN 1177-9047 (Online). i Abstract We use book translations as a new measure of international idea flows and study the effects of Communism’s collapse in Eastern Europe on these flows.