Economic Aspects and the Summer Olympics

Economic Aspects and the Summer Olympics: A Review of

the Related Research

Page 2

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author would like to gratefully acknowledge and thank Prof. John Hudson, Dr.

Peter Dawson, Adam George-Wood, Nikos Veraros, Martha McIntosh for their helpful

comments on earlier drafts of this paper. Special thanks also to two anonymous referees

who provided substantial and constructive comments. Finally, the author would like to

acknowledge the Manpower Employment Organisation in Athens, Greece for helping

fund this research. Any remaining errors or omissions are the author’s alone.

Page 2

Page 3

ABSTRACT

As the Summer Olympics are growing with larger media coverage and sponsorship,

host cities have started to attach great importance to the tourism and other likely

economic effects occurred by staging such a special event. As a result, a number of

studies have been conducted to consider the various economic implications on the hosts.

This paper examines and evaluates methods and assumptions employed by the

economic studies. It also compares ex-ante models and forecasts with the ex-post

approach. The aim is to improve the information available to policy makers and

potential future hosts of Summer Olympics and other mega-events.

Keywords: Mega-events; Summer Olympics; Economic Impact Analysis

Page 3

Page 4

INTRODUCTION

The modern Olympic Games were first held in Athens in 1896. Over the years, the

Games survived many trials including wars and boycotts, and each set of Games is held

every four years. In recent years, the interest of countries and regions in staging a future

edition of the Games has grown because of the perception that doing so would help

attract tourists and generate income.

As