Hostname: page-component-669899f699-8p65j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-05-04T09:32:41.890Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Can Cities Bring Home the Gold?: What Economic Theory Tells Us about Hosting the Olympic Games

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2025

Michael A. Leeds
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The Tokyo Games have had mixed success on the compactness and sustainability fronts. The financial news, however, has been uniformly disappointing. Interest groups play a clear role in prompting governments to pursue the Olympics. While the population as a whole experiences little or no net benefit, specific groups, such as the local hospitality industry and construction unions, stand to gain a great deal. These groups spend heavily to elect politicians who support their pursuit of the Olympics.

Type
Research Article
Information
Asia-Pacific Journal , Volume 18 , Issue 5 , March 2020 , e6
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2020

References

Associated Press. 2019b. “Rights Group Asks for Worker-Safety Probe at Tokyo Olympics,” USA Today, June 7.Google Scholar
Billings, Stephen and Holladay, J. Scott. 2012. “Should Cities Go for the Gold? The Long-Term Impacts of Hosting the Olympics,” Economic Inquiry, 50(3), July: 754–772.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Douglas, Bruce. 2015. “World Cup Leaves Brazil with Bus Depots and Empty Stadiums,” BBC Sport, March 29.Google Scholar
Feddersen, Arne and Maennig, Wolfgang. 2013. “Mega-Events and sectoral employment: The case of the 1996 Olympic Games,” Contemporary Economic Policy, 31(3), July: 580–603.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Genasci, Lisa. 2012. “Infrastructure: Brazil, the World Cup, and Olympics,” Americas Quarterly, Fall.Google Scholar
Gibson, Owen. 2016. “West Ham Olympic Stadium deal explained: From Water City to London Stadium,” The Guardian, November 2.Google Scholar
Gomez, Alan. 2016. “Rio Government Declares “Public Calamity” over Finances in Advance of Olympics,” USAToday, June 17.Google Scholar
Grohmann, Karolos. 2019. “Tokyo 2020 Games Domestic Sponsorship Tops $3 Billion as Companies Pile in,” Reuters, June 25.Google Scholar
Harner, Stephen. 2013. “The 2020 Olympics: A ‘Fourth Arrow’ for Abenomics and a Second Term for Abe,” Forbes, September 10.Google Scholar
Hotchkiss, Julie, Moore, Robert, and Zobay, Stephanie. 2003. “Impact of the 1996 Summer Olympic Games on Employment and Wages in Georgia.” Southern Economic Journal, 69(3), January: 691–704.Google Scholar
International Olympic Committee. 2011. 2020 Candidature Acceptance Procedure, Lausanne: IOC.Google Scholar
International Olympic Committee. 2019. The Olympic Partner Programme.Google Scholar
JIJI. 2019. “Japan Has Spent over ¥1 Trillion on Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics So Far, Audit Reveals,” Japan Times, December 6.Google Scholar
Leeds, Michael A. 2008. Do Good Olympics Make Good Neighbors? The Impact of the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Games on the Colorado Economy. Contemporary Economic Policy, 26(3), 460–467.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maenning, Wolfgang and Richter, Felix. 2012. Exports and Olympic Games: Is There a Signal Effect? Journal of Sports Economics, 13(6), December: 635–641.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Owen, David. 2015. “Exclusive: IOC Set to Generate Record $4.5 Billion from Pyeongchang 2018 and Tokyo 2020 TV Rights,” Inside the Games, July 14.Google Scholar
Ramzy, Austin. 2008. “Beijing’s Olympic War on Smog,” Time, April 15.Google Scholar
Richarz, Allan. 2019. “What You Need to Know: The Tokyo 2020 Olympics,” New York Times, November 11.Google Scholar
Shrinian, Zjan. 2014. “Rio 2016 ‘Top Priority’ after World Cup, Pledges Brazilian President,” Inside the Games, July 11.Google Scholar
Wade, Stephen and Yamaguchi, Mari, 2019. “Tokyo Olympics say costs $12.6B; Audit report says much more,” Associated Press. Dec. 20.Google Scholar
Weissman, Jordan. 2012. “Empty Nest: Beijing’s Olympic Stadium Is an Empty ‘Museum Piece,’” The Atlantic, July 31.Google Scholar
Zimbalist, Andrew. 2015. Circus Maximus, Washington, DC.: Brookings Institution Press.Google Scholar
Zimbalist, Andrew. 2017. The Economic Legacy of Rio 2016, Rio 2016. Edited by Zimbalist, A., Washington D.C.: Brookings Institution Press.Google Scholar