Economic Incentives of the Olympic Games

Matros, Alexander; Namoro, Soiliou Daw

doi:10.2139/ssrn.588882

Economic Incentives of the Olympic Games

20 Pages Posted: 13 Sep 2004

See all articles by Alexander Matros

Soiliou Daw Namoro

University of Pittsburgh - Department of Economics

Date Written: September 9, 2004

Abstract

We provide a game-theoretic analysis of countries strategic allocations of resources among different sports and athletes performance at the Olympic Games. Individuals face opportunity costs of spending efforts and countries maximize their expected number of medals. We suggest several proxy variables for country-specific costs and test the predictions of the model using the summer Olympic Games data for 1960-2004.

Keywords: Tournaments, Olympic Games, Strategic Budget Allocation

JEL Classification: C79, C53

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Matros, Alexander and Namoro, Soiliou Daw, Economic Incentives of the Olympic Games (September 9, 2004). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=588882 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.588882