All that glitters

As 11,000 athletes continue to train uncertainly for an Olympic Games hanging in the balance, we analyse if cities like Rio, London, and Beijing can be thankful to have hosted one of the greatest sporting spectacles on Earth.

Sure, there was a fortnight of euphoria as the fireworks and pageant captivated the world but at a cost well into the billions, is hosting the Olympic Games a good decision economically.

This paper looked at the last five summer games specifically. Generally, hosting the games led to a net economic benefit for the host cities. It’s not just a tourism uptick but the billions of dollars governments invest in infrastructure projects like roads and public transport have long-term benefits for the city.

While there is an argument that the money could be better spent on education or healthcare, very rarely does such a high level of government spending get deployed in cities. The money is more likely not to be spent at all than in other parts of the economy.

Read the full paper here for a city by city breakdown.