Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/207373 
Year of Publication: 
2019
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 12547
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
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 wellbeing impact on the rest of the country would make hosting worth the costs.
Subjects: 
subjective well-being
life satisfaction
happiness
intangible effects
Olympic Games
sport events
quasi-natural experiment
JEL: 
I30
I31
I38
L83
Z20
Z28
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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