Estimating literary translators’ earnings penalty

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.