Quantifying the intangible impact of the Olympics using subjective well-being data

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Dolan, Paul; Kavetsos, Georgios; Krekel, Christian; Mavridis, Dimitris; Metcalfe, Robert; Senik, Claudia; Szymanski, Stefan; Ziebarth, Nicolas R.
• 署名单位: University of London; London School Economics & Political Science; University of London; London School Economics & Political Science; University of London; Queen Mary University London; The World Bank; Boston University; National Bureau of Economic Research; Paris School of Economics; Sorbonne Universite; University of Michigan System; University of Michigan; Cornell University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2727
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2019.07.002
• 发表日期: 2019
• 关键词: subjective well-being; life satisfaction; happiness; Intangible effects; Olympic Games; Sport events; quasi-natural experiment

摘要

Hosting the Olympic Games costs billions of taxpayer dollars. Following a quasi-experimental setting, this paper assesses the intangible impact of the London 2012 Olympics, using a novel panel of 26,000 residents in London, Paris, and Berlin during the summers of 2011, 2012, and 2013. We show that hosting the Olympics increases subjective well-being of the host city's residents during the event, particularly around the times of the opening and closing ceremonies. However, we do not find much evidence for legacy effects. Estimating residents' implicit willingness-to-pay for the event, we do not find that it was worth it for London alone, but a modest well-being impact on the rest of the country would make hosting worth the costs. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.