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The IOC's Midas Touch: Summer Olympics and City Growth

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  • Volker Nitsch
  • Nicolai Wendland

Abstract

Hosting a mega-event is a costly activity of short duration. Still, cities frequently compete to become host of all types of events. This paper examines the effect of staging the largest and most important sporting event in the world, the Summer Olympic Games, on the host city. Applying a difference-in-differences methodology, we analyze the rates of population growth of Olympic cities, candidate cities and other large cities in host and candidate countries over the period from 1860 to 2010. We find that, following the Games, host cities experience a measurable decline in population growth relative to cities in the control group. Our results indicate that being awarded the Summer Olympics has, on average, a negative impact on cities.

Suggested Citation

  • Volker Nitsch & Nicolai Wendland, 2013. "The IOC's Midas Touch: Summer Olympics and City Growth," CESifo Working Paper Series 4378, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_4378
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    Cited by:

    1. Yulia Chikish & Brad R. Humphreys & Crocker H. Liu & Adam Nowak, 2017. "Professional Sports Events, Concerts, and Urban Place Based Policy: Evidence from the Staples Center," Working Papers 17-32, Department of Economics, West Virginia University.
    2. Gregor Pfeifer & Fabian Wahl & Martyna Marczak, 2018. "Illuminating the World Cup effect: Night lights evidence from South Africa," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(5), pages 887-920, November.
    3. Martin Thomas Falk & Markku Vieru, 2021. "Short-term hotel room price effects of sporting events," Tourism Economics, , vol. 27(3), pages 569-588, May.
    4. Firgo, Matthias, 2021. "The causal economic effects of Olympic Games on host regions," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    5. Volker Nitsch & Nicolai Wendland, 2017. "The IOC’s midas touch: Summer Olympics and city growth," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 54(4), pages 971-983, March.
    6. Matthias Firgo & Oliver Fritz, 2023. "Regionalwirtschaftliche und touristische Effekte von Sportgroßveranstaltungen," WIFO Monatsberichte (monthly reports), WIFO, vol. 96(7), pages 481-490, July.
    7. Jeremy Wood & Samuel Meng, 2021. "The economic impacts of the 2018 Winter Olympics," Tourism Economics, , vol. 27(7), pages 1303-1322, November.
    8. Wifo, 2023. "WIFO-Monatsberichte, Heft 7/2023," WIFO Monatsberichte (monthly reports), WIFO, vol. 96(7), July.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    mega-events; impact; host city; city size;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F53 - International Economics - - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy - - - International Agreements and Observance; International Organizations
    • N90 - Economic History - - Regional and Urban History - - - General, International, or Comparative
    • O18 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure
    • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population

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