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

29 Pages Posted: 4 Sep 2013

See all articles by Volker Nitsch

Volker Nitsch

Technical University of Darmstadt - Department of Law and Economics; CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute for Economic Research)

Nicolai Wendland

Touro University

Date Written: August 30, 2013

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.

Keywords: mega-events, impact, host city, city size

JEL Classification: F530, N900, O180, R120, R230

Suggested Citation

Nitsch, Volker and Wendland, Nicolai, The IOC's Midas Touch: Summer Olympics and City Growth (August 30, 2013). CESifo Working Paper Series No. 4378, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2319870 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2319870

Volker Nitsch (Contact Author)

Technical University of Darmstadt - Department of Law and Economics ( email )

Marktplatz 15
Residenzschloss
Darmstadt, 64283
Germany

CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute for Economic Research)

Poschinger Str. 5
Munich, DE-81679
Germany

Nicolai Wendland

Touro University ( email )

1602 Avenue J
New York, NY 10010
United States

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