Zsombor Csata1; 1 Babes-Bolyai University, Faculty of Sociology and Social Work, Romania
Discussion
This study explores the phenomenon of ethnic parallelism within an economy in a multicultural and multilingual setting. Drawing from institutional economics and new economic sociology, it examines how marketization influences minority accommodation and interethnic cooperation in Transylvania, Romania. In contrast to the mainstream neoclassical economics, which calls for reduced state regulation, we argue that the laissez-faire principle often leads to ethnic parallelism and segregation. This not only disadvantages minorities but also has negative effects on overall welfare.
To illustrate our arguments, we provide two compelling examples. The first focuses on the Hungarians in Szeklerland, who are less active in trading on Romanian online platforms. We explore how linguistic boundaries create information asymmetries, resulting in suboptimal resource allocation that disadvantages ethnic minorities and diminishes overall economic outcomes. The second example comes from the corporate world and highlights how coethnicity influences labor management. We show that the lack of equitable treatment of multilingualism can lead to coordination failures and lower business performance. Our study highlights the urgent need for public institutions that actively facilitate symmetric linguistic regimes – to promote fair accommodation of minorities and to effectively address the challenges posed by ethnic parallelism in the economy.
