Linguistic Discrimination of LGBTQ+ People as a Deterrent to Economic Performance The Case of the French and Italian Languages

This book explores the adverse economic effects of discriminatory language against LGBTQ+ people. The case studies under investigation are represented by the French and the Italian language, both boasting vast arrays of slurs employed to denote negatively the members of the LGBTQ+ community. Looking at the relative frequencies of slurs over time, the analysis proposed measures the extent of linguistic discrimination. Subsequently, the book identifies the negative impact of discrimination on economic performance in France and Italy in the long run. Slurs impose a psychological cost on the members of the LGBTQ+ community, who become as a result less productive in the workplace. Ultimately, slurs affect overall economic performance and reduce economic growth at the national level.

This book stresses the role of inefficiencies associated with discrimination against LGBTQ+ individuals in various spheres of life, with a particular focus on their economic consequences. Discriminatory language thus emerges not only as a negative phenomenon per se, but also as an obstacle to economic growth. This work draws elements from different disciplines and the results it obtains may prove appealing to scholars of economics, linguistics and gender studies, as well as to policymakers seeking to overcome social exclusion while stimulating economic performance. 

Chapter 1. Introduction.- Chapter 2. The Language of Politeness. Theoretical Considerations and Practical Implications.- Chapter 3. Linguistic Impoliteness: The Case of Slurs.- Chapter 4. The Different Facets of Discrimination.- Chapter 5. The Economic Effects of Linguistic Discrimination.- Chapter 6. Grammatical Gender in French and Italian, Gender-based Discrimination and Economic Consequences.- Chapter 7. A Novel Measure of Discrimination against the LGBTQ+ Community.- Chapter 8. Estimating the two Components of Discrimination.- Chapter 9. The Effect of Discrimination on Economic Performance.

Massimiliano Agovino is a full professor in Economic Policy at the Department of Economics, Law, Cybersecurity, and Sports Sciences of the University of Naples Parthenope, Italy and head of the PhD programme in Economics, Statistics and Sustainability. His reseach interests include the labour market, environmental sustainability, performance analysis and discrimination. 

Massimiliano Cerciello is a Senior Research Fellow in Economic Policy at the Department of Economic and Legal Studies of the University of Naples Parthenope, Italy and International Factulty Fellow at the Massachussets Institute of Technology. His research interests include the empirical evaluation of public policies, labour economics, social policies and greenwashing.

Michele Bevilacqua is a Senior Research Fellow in French Language and Linguistics at the Department of Humanities of the University of Salerno (Italy). He holds a PhD in French linguistics from the University of Naples Parthenope and the Université d’Artois (Arras, France). He has been a Visiting Researcher at the Centre de recherche en linguistique française “Grammatica” of the Université d’Artois and at the Institut d’Histoire des Représentations et des Idées dans les Modernités of the Université Lumière Lyon 2. His research interests focus on linguistic pragmatics, lexical semantics, discourse analysis and spoken French in Maghreb countries and Canada.