This book examines the theoretical basis for applying the principles of policy analysis to the selection, design and evaluation of language polices as well as the empirical feasibility of their application to multilingual patent organizations.

This book consists of nine chapters. Chapter 1 is an introduction explaining the necessity of regarding language policy as a particular form of public policy and thereby assessing it in the light of standard evaluation principles. The important role of evaluation in language policy and planning (LPP) is also discussed. The following four chapters, 2 to 5, make up part I, elucidating in detail the theoretical and methodological foundations of this book. Chapter 2 introduces the two most important concepts of welfare economics, efficiency and fairness, and also discusses the basic features and limitations of cost-benefit analysis and cost-effectiveness analysis, two frequently used techniques for the assessment of efficiency of public policies. Chapter 3 builds an ‘effective communication approach’ to the evaluation of language policies, i.e., comparing language polices along three dimensions: effectiveness of communication, cost, and fairness of the distributive impacts of alternative language policies. After the theoretical framework is built, chapter 4 provides some specific guidelines for applying it to the practical analysis of particular language regimes. Specifically, a three-phase process of organizing evaluation is proposed: problem analysis, evaluation design and evaluation implementation. Since indicators of relative efficiency and fairness of alternative language regimes are quite crucial for the realization of quantitative evaluation, chapter 5 is dedicated to discussing indicators and the principles of indicator design. Some existing language policy indicators are also reviewed. Chapters 6 to 8 make up part II, applying the constructed theory to the language policies of two multilingual patent organizations, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the European Patent Office (EPO). After a brief introduction to the basic notions of patent organizations and their principles, chapter 6 further examines the costs, effectiveness and fairness of the language regimes of patent organizations and then designs a comprehensive procedure for the evaluation. Chapter 7 provides a detailed presentation of the language regimes of WIPO's division dealing with patents, the Patent Cooperation Treaty division, and illustrates how the language regimes both in the filing stage and the publication stage are evaluated on the basis of the designed framework. Similarly, chapter 8 is dedicated to the illustrative evaluation of the efficiency and fairness of the language regimes of EPO. Briefly speaking, three comparative analyses in these two chapters reveal that both the degree of efficiency and that of fairness are proportional to the degree of language diversity. Chapter 9 is the conclusion, summarizing the three theoretical contributions and the methodological contribution of new methods and tools for practical evaluation. Empirical findings are also summarized.

This book is enlightening for it deepens the current analytical framework for the evaluation of language policies and designs an interdisciplinary approach for practical evaluation. It is worthy of careful reading by scholars in public intervention, language policy and planning.