Cover not available
Article published In:
Target
Vol. 33:3 (2021) ► pp.436–463

Estimating literary translators’ earnings penalty

A cultural economics approach to translator studies

ORCID logo | University of Isfahan
| University of Isfahan
| University of Isfahan

Seeking to fill the gap in economics-related research in the subfield of translator studies, this article aims to identify the best approach to estimate the earnings penalty and forgone income of Iranian professional literary translators. The data were collected through interviews with 118 Iranian professional literary translators. A multiple regression analysis done to estimate the translators’ annual income equation shows that male Tehran-based literary translators who have no other jobs and spent less time on higher education earn more than their colleagues who are female, do not live in Tehran, have other jobs, and spent more time on higher education. However, the multiple regression analysis for estimating the average forgone income equation of the interviewees indicates that the more experience and the fewer award jury/editorial board memberships female non-Tehran-based literary translators have, the more they suffer from earnings penalties. Building on these findings, the article highlights the implications of cultural economics research for translator studies.

Keywords: economics of translation, translators’ earnings penalty, Iranian literary translators, translator studies, cultural economics, psychic income
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Earnings penalty
  • 3.Research methodology
    • 3.1Participants
    • 3.2Procedure
    • 3.3Analyses
  • 4.Results and discussion
    • 4.1Description of the sample
    • 4.2Estimating forgone income and earnings penalty: Three approaches
    • 4.3Estimating forgone income equations: Variables influencing forgone income and earnings penalty
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 16 February 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/target.19130.mir
References
Abbing, Hans
2002 Why are Artists Poor? The Exceptional Economy of the Arts. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Adler, Moshe
2006 “Stardom and Talent.” In Ginsburgh and Throsby, 895–906. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Alper, Neil O., and Gregory H. Wassall
2006 “Artists’ Careers and Their Labor Markets.” In Ginsburgh and Throsby, 813–864. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Baumol, William J., and William G. Bowen
1966 Performing Arts: The Economic Dilemma. New York: Twentieth Century Fund.Google Scholar
Benhamou, Françoise
2011 “Artists’ Labour Markets.” In A Handbook of Cultural Economics, edited by Ruth Towse, 53–58. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
Book House Institute of Iran
2017 Accessed December 26, 2017. [URL]
Chan, Andy Lung Jan
2008 Information Economics, the Translation Profession and Translator Certification. PhD diss. Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain.Google Scholar
Chesterman, Andrew
2009 “The Name and Nature of Translator Studies.” Hermes – Journal of Language and Communication Studies 421: 13–22.Google Scholar
Filer, Randall K.
1990 “Arts and Academe: The Effects of Education on Earnings of Artists.” Journal of Cultural Economics 14 (2), 15–38. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fock, Holger, Martin de Haan, and Alena Lhotová
2008 Comparative Income of Literary Translators in Europe. Brussels: Conseil Européen des Associations de Traducteurs Littéraires.Google Scholar
Gazzola, Michele, François Grin, and Bengt-Arne Wickström
2016 “A Concise Bibliography of Language Economics.” In The Economics of Language Policy, edited by Michele Gazzola and Bengt-Arne Wickström, 53–92. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ginsburgh, Victor, and David Throsby
eds. 2006 Handbook of the Economics of Art and Culture, vol. 1. Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Heilbron, Johan, and Gisèle Sapiro
2007 “Outline for a Sociology of Translation: Current Issues and Future Prospects.” In Constructing a Sociology of Translation, edited by Michaela Wolf and Alexandra Fukari, 93–107. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2016 “Translation: Economic and Sociological Perspectives.” In The Palgrave Handbook of Economics and Language, edited by Victor Ginsburgh and Shlomo Weber, 373–402. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hogan-Brun, Gabrielle
2017 Linguanomics: What is the Market Potential of Multilingualism? London: Bloomsbury Academic. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
IBM Corp
2015 IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 23.0. Armonk, New York: IBM Corp.Google Scholar
IRNA
2019 در سال 97 کی چقدر حقوق گرفت؟ Dar sāl-i 97 kī chi qadr ḥuqūq girift? [Who earned how much from 21 March 2018 to 20 March 2019?]. Accessed April 22, 2019. [URL]
Jemielity, David
2018 “Translation in Intercultural Business and Economic Environments.” In The Routledge Handbook of Translation and Culture, edited by Sue-Ann Harding and Ovidi Carbonell Cortés, 533–557. London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Menger, Pierre-Michel
2006 “Artistic Labor Markets: Contingent Work, Excess Supply and Occupational Risk Management.” In Ginsburgh and Throsby, 765–811. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mincer, Jacob A.
1974 Schooling, Experience, and Earnings. New York: National Bureau of Economic Research.Google Scholar
Pallant, Julie
2005 SPSS Survival Manual: A Step by Step Guide to Data Analysis Using SPSS. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.Google Scholar
Pym, Anthony, François Grin, Claudio Sfreddo, and Andy Lung Jan Chan
2012 The Status of the Translation Profession in the European Union (DGT/2011/TST). European Commission.Google Scholar
Santos, F. P.
1976 “Risk, Uncertainty and the Performing Artist.” In The Economics of the Arts, edited by Mark Blaug, 243–259. London: Robertson.Google Scholar
Steiner, Lasse, and Lucian Schneider
2013 “The Happy Artist: An Empirical Application of the Work-Preference Model.” Journal of Cultural Economics 37 (2): 225–246. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Throsby, David
1994a “A Work-Preference Model of Artist Behaviour.” In Cultural Economics and Cultural Policies, edited by Alan Peacock and Ilde Rizzo, 69–80. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1994b “The Production and Consumption of the Arts: A View of Cultural Economics.” Journal of Economic Literature, 32 (1), 1–29.Google Scholar
Throsby, David, and Virginia Hollister
2003 Don’t Give Up Your Day Job: An Economic Study of Professional Artists in Australia. Sydney: Australia Council for the Arts.Google Scholar
Throsby, David, and Devon Mills
1989 When Are You Going to Get a Real Job? An Economic Study of Australian Artists. Sydney: Australia Council for the Arts.Google Scholar
Throsby, David, and Katya Petetskaya
2017 Making Art Work: A Summary and Response by the Australia Council for the Arts. Sydney: Australia Council for the Arts.Google Scholar
Throsby, David, and Beverley Thompson
1994 But What Do You Do for a Living? A New Economic Study of Australian Artists. Sydney: Australia Council for the Arts.Google Scholar
Throsby, David, and Anita Zednik
2010 Do You Really Expect to Get Paid? An Economic Study of Professional Artists in Australia. Sydney: Australia Council for the Arts.Google Scholar
Towse, Ruth
2006 “Human Capital and Artists’ Labour Markets.” In Ginsburgh and Throsby, 865–894. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2010 A Textbook of Cultural Economics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2011 “Creativity.” In A Handbook of Cultural Economics, edited by Ruth Towse, 132–137. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
Wassall, Gregory H., and Neil O. Alper
1985 “Occupational Characteristics of Artists: A Statistical Analysis.” Journal of Cultural Economics 9 (1): 13–34. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Withers, Glenn
1985 “Artists’ Subsidy of the Arts.” Australian Economic Papers 24 (45): 290–295. DOI logoGoogle Scholar