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Contribution Details

Type Journal Article
Scope Discipline-based scholarship
Title Economics and the Summer Olympics: an efficiency analysis
Organization Unit
Authors
  • Alexander Rathke
  • Ulrich Woitek
Item Subtype Original Work
Refereed Yes
Status Published in final form
Language
  • English
Journal Title Journal of Sports Economics
Publisher Sage Publications
Geographical Reach international
ISSN 1527-0025
Volume 9
Number 5
Page Range 520 - 537
Date 2008
Abstract Text Applying stochastic frontier analysis, we estimate distance to frontier of countries in the production of success at the Summer Olympic Games since the 1950s. Our measures of success are medal shares and a broader concept including Olympic diplomas. Following Bernard and Busse (2004), population and GDP are used as inputs. While the impact of GDP is always positive, we show that the sign of the population effect depends on wealth and population size of a country. The results show that the spread of distance to frontier is very wide over time, across countries, gender, and sports: not only resource endowment matters, but also utilization of resources. These differences can be seen as caused by differences in financial support, training methods, organization, or culture. Using the method proposed by Battese and Coelli (1995), we build on well documented results in the literature and identify the channels through which planned economies and host countries generate Olympic success. The method allows to shed light on aspects of recent history such as the consequences of the breakdown of the former Soviet Union.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1177/1527002507313743
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