Per capita

Marketing

Product (mathematics)

Mathematics education

Demography

Microeconomics

Chromatography

Scope (computer science)

Economics

Computer science

Classical economics

Business

Psychology

Preference

Mathematics

Public economics

Foreign language

Population

Sociology

Geometry

Gross domestic product

Chemistry

Programming language

Sample (material)

Economic growth

Modern Language Journal

This study applies economic utility theory to the question of why students choose to learn a specific foreign language (FL). Economic utility, a basic theory of economics, explains the preference of a consumer for a given product. To measure utility, we surveyed 84 graduate business students about their reasons for studying 1 of the 8 languages offered at Thunderbird, The American Graduate School of International Management. We compared their responses with economic indicators such as the gross domestic product (GDP), population, GDP per capita, corporate job opportunities, direction of trade statistics, and most active big emerging markets. According to the indicator, different languages assume economic importance. The study, although limited in scope by sample size, yields insight into the real and perceived costs and benefits of learning a FL.

The Economic Utility of Foreign Language Study