Going for the Gold: The Economics of the Olympics (original) (raw)
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Polish Journal of Sport and Tourism
Introduction. The positive legacy of the Olympics is often cited by the International Olympic Committee and national organizers. Some scholars, however, question an uncritical approach to an exclusively positive economic legacy. The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of hosting the Olympics on infrastructure development, with a potential impact on economic growth in the form of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in three phases of seven Olympic Games organised in Europe in recent years. Material and methods. The effect of a particular Olympic period on the GDP was analysed using a difference-in-difference technique in which the difference between each of the analysed seven host countries’ GDPs and those of a reference set of countries was obtained. Each time, as part of the observation, an event time period was distinguished covering all three phases of the event: the preparatory phase, the event phase and the post-event phase. Results. For the Winter Olympic Games, no statistica...
IMPACT OF OLYMPICS ON HOST COUNTRY'S ECONOMY
2023
This research study has been developed by focusing on the economic impact of Olympic. To analyses the economic indicators of the five countries (the United States, Spain, Australia, China and Greece) that have hosted the Games between 1992 and 2008, this study utilizes a quantitative exploratory research technique and secondary data analysis. The primary indicators of success include gross domestic product, unemployment rate, tourist numbers, and foreign direct investment in the decade before, during, and after the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The studies suggest that an Olympic host country has short-and long-term economic advantages such as increased GDP, increased tourism, and increased foreign direct investment. However, studies showed that the impact on the jobless rate was small. This research elucidates the monetary benefits of hosting the Olympic Games to aid policymakers in making informed assessments on the feasibility of such mega-events. The consequences of hosting the Olympics on non-economic aspects, such as social and environmental circumstances, and how they differ between rich and developing countries might be the subject of further research.
Economic evaluation of the Olympic Games
International Journal of Advance Research, Ideas and Innovations in Technology, 2019
The purpose of this paper and study i.e. to figure which key economic factors can help us explain country performance (medals) in the Olympics. The paper focuses on 3 key objectives, namely: To produce a list of possible key economic factors that can explain Olympic performance. To produce a simple Mathematical model based on these factors which could possibly predict the Olympic tally at a country level. To identify the degree to which these factors will influence Olympic performance the study has been carried out in a way to develop a conceptual model and to analyze the hypotheses. I have considered the Beijing Olympics 2008 Games, sampled with 83 countries and 946 medals for the study. Based on the findings of the study, a few recommendations have been made, which if implemented in developing countries like India, may contribute to improving the sport performance of these countries in the future.
An Economic Approach to the Olympic Games: The Olympic Marketing Revenues
Ecoforum, 2017
The Olympic Games (OG) are the world’s greatest sporting event, gathering athletes from more than 200 states. They bring into the spotlight not only the sports competitions featured on the Olympic program, but also the image of the host community and country, and each people’s culture and heritage. Lately, great emphasis has been placed on the economic component of the Olympic Games. This paper aims to outline OG economics through the funding programmes for the Olympic Movement. The timeline of this paper covers the period from 1993 until 2016. With every new edition, the Olympics raise more and more revenue, even if still falling short, by far, of the organisation costs incurred. The revenue generated by broadcasting the sporting events accounts for the largest share in the total income, as opposed to the licensing revenue, which is on the lowest end. Also, there is usually a significant difference between the summer OG and the winter OG, the former generating higher revenue.
The economy of the Beijing Olympic Games : An analysis of first impacts and prospects
2009
This paper was presented at the International Sport Business Symposium, held by the Capital University of Economics and Business in Beijing, in 2008. The speakers, Ferran Brunet, as a professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and Zuo Xinwen, as a member of Beijing Development and Reform Commission, both set out to analyze changes in the economic and social development of the city which were undertaken with the aim to celebrate the 2008 Olympic Games. They discuss aspects as a transformation in the mode of economic growth, resources of the Organizing Committee, investments related to the Games, transport and communications, industries, the balance of urban and rural development, urban construction and management service and operations into a well-off society.
Economic and image impacts of summer Olympic games in tourist destinations: a literature review
Tourism & Management Studies
This article aims to verify in the literature related to the Summer Olympics the main economic and image implications for the destination hosting it. A qualitative exploratory research was carried out with the survey of scientific articles of the last twenty-five years in five different databases. The studies indicate economic and image gains and losses from hosting the games. As positive aspects, most of the studies mention those coming from Olympic spending that provided long-term gains for the resident population in the host locality and related to tourist activity. The most cited negative aspects are related to investments that generated benefits only in the short term or lack of investment in infrastructure. It is concluded that the preparation and implementation processes in each country are too different for the results to be uniform. In addition, the diverse methodological aspects of the articles also influence their results.
Bringing Home the Gold? A Review of the Economic Impact of Hosting Mega-Events
There is perhaps no larger sports policy decision than the decision to host or bid to host a mega-event like the FIFA World Cup or the Summer Olympics. Hosts and bidders usually justify their decisions by touting their potential impact. Many organizers and promoters either fund or widely disseminate ex-ante studies that tend to highlight the positive effects of the event. For instance, the consultancy firm Ernst & Young produced a 2010 report prior to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil that painted an optimistic picture of the event’s potential legacy. It estimated that an additional R$ 142.39 billion (4.91% of 2010 GDP) would flow through the Brazilian economy over the 2010-2014 period, generating 3.63 million jobs per year, R$ 63.48 billion (2.17% of 2010 GDP) of income for the population and additional tax collection of R$ 18.13 billion (0.62% of 2010 GDP) for the local, state and federal governments. Ernst & Young estimated that during the same period 2.98 million additional visitors would travel to Brazil, increasing the international tourist inflow up to 79%. Such results, if true, would clearly attractive for governments considering a bid, but these expected impacts don’t always materialize. Moreover, hosting mega-events requires significant investments - and the cost of these investments is rising. Zimbalist notes emerging economies like China, Brazil, and South Africa have increasingly perceived "mega-events as a sort of coming-out party signaling that [they are] now a modernized economy, ready to make [their] presence felt in world trade and politics" (Zimbalist 2015). Their intentions may be noble, but the intention of using mega-events as a "coming-out party" means developing countries hoping to host them need to make massive investments. They are confronted by significant obstacles in that they lack sufficient stadiums, accommodations, transportation systems, and other sports-related infrastructure. As a result, each of the mega-events hosted by emerging economies has been exorbitantly expensive. The 2014 World Cup cost Brazil between USD 15 billion and USD 20 billion, while Beijing reportedly spent USD 40 billion prior to the 2008 Summer Olympic (Zimbalist 2015). Additionally, as the debt-ridden 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal demonstrates, expensive mega-events are not limited to emerging economies alone. Flyvbjerg and Stewart have even shown that every Olympics since 1960 has gone over budget (Flyvbjerg and Stewart 2012). Such incredible figures, in terms of both costs and benefits, beget the question: are mega-events worth it? Which type of reports should governments focus their attention on? What economic consequences should a government reasonably expect? With such high stakes, policymakers need to choose wisely. We attempt to answer these questions and aid the decisions of policymakers by providing a concise review of the rich academic literature on mega-events. For the purposes of this paper, we mainly focus on the Summer Olympic Games and the FIFA World Cup as mega-events. However, we also leverage information regarding events like the Winter Olympic Games, the UEFA football championships, and the Commonwealth Games. These events are organized on a smaller scale than the previous two, but they might provide some insights on how to best understand mega-events. We focus on claims surrounding the direct or indirect mechanisms that facilitate the impact that ex-ante studies predict. We provide a review of these claims and their validity according to the existing literature. Section 1 focuses on the argument that mega-events lead to increased economic activity in the host economy. Specifically, we evaluate whether or not mega-events leads to access to previously inaccessible funds and increased investments. These investments could theoretically come from supranational organizations, private stakeholders, or public stakeholders. We also consider whether or not these new expenditures and investments have the multiplicative effect that many ex-ante studies assume they have. We finally investigate if the economic activity surrounding mega-events leads to increased revenues and tax collection for host governments. Overall, the existing academic literature suggests that any increased economic activity resulting from the event is routinely dwarfed by additional public budgetary commitments. Moreover, the arguments regarding multiplicative effects and increased revenues also tend to be exaggerated. Section 2 shifts the focus to the potential impact of mega-events on a specific industry: tourism. We explore the effect of mega-events on the number of tourists visiting the host region and their spending habits. We explore this channel both for analyses specific to a single mega-event and for cross-country evaluations incorporating many events. Next, we consider the impact of a mega-event on a region’s brand and image in the international community with the idea of testing if hosting the competition will impact future tourism. Finally, we consider if mega-events lead to increases in the capacity of a city or country to welcome future tourists as a result of improved airport infrastructure, accommodations, and/or transportation systems. As was true in Section 1, the academic literature suggests that the claims of many ex-ante studies are misleading. Our review finds that there is some evidence for increases in tourist arrivals to certain events, but those increases are far smaller than what is generally predicted beforehand. These effects are also usually dependent on factors, such as the timing of the competition, that are specific to the host region and the event itself. Section 3 briefly discusses other potential qualitative and social impacts of mega-events such as international business relations, crime reduction, and the "feel-good effect." In the penultimate section, Section 4, we discuss how these conclusions should impact the decision-making of policymakers. Finally, in a short conclusion, we summarize the findings of our review.
ATINER, 2004
Sport is an activity that attracts the interest of many scientific disciplines. The transformation of sports of all kinds into a business activity, primarily during the second half of the twentieth century, made it a perfect subject for the disciplines of economics, management and marketing. This volume, that is the result of selected papers presented during a conference that took place in Athens in 2004 organized by the International Association of Sports Economists (IASE) and the Panhellenic Association of Sports Economists and Managers (PASEM), contributes to this literature and in that aspect presents a unified theme. The book is organized into three parts which follow the main themes of the conference: issues on the economics and management of Olympic Games, issues on the economics and management of professional sports and other sport subjects, particularly those that relate sport management education and careers.