Regional Income and Employment Effects of the 1972 Munich Summer Olympic Games

Abstract

Jasmand S. and Maennig W. Regional income and employment effects of the 1972 Munich Summer Olympic Games, Regional Studies. Olympic Games may have impacts on income and employment in the host city, but no ex-post study has been carried out for European Olympic host cities to date. The present study closes this gap by using the 1972 Munich Summer Olympic Games. The data period examined in this study allows for analysis of long-term effects. In addition, the methodology avoids overestimating the significance of the effects. Finally, results are reported for all possible combinations of pre- and post-Olympic periods. The results were that income in Olympic regions grew significantly faster than in other German regions but, in contrast, no employment effects were identified.

Jasmand S. et Maennig W. Incidences des Jeux olympiques d'été de 1972 à Munich sur les revenus et l'emploi, Regional Studies. Il est possible que les Jeux olympiques aient des incidences sur les revenus et l'emploi dans la ville-hôte; or, jusqu'à présent, aucune étude a posteriori n'a été conduite pour des villes européennes ayant accueilli les Jeux olympiques. La présente étude comble cette lacune en se consacrant aux Jeux olympiques de 1972 à Munich. La période examinée pour cette étude permet d'analyser les effets à long terme. De plus, la méthodologie utilisée évite de surestimer l'importance de ces effets. Enfin, nous donnons des résultats pour toutes les combinaisons possibles de périodes avant et après des Jeux olympiques. On constate que les revenus dans les régions où se sont déroulés les Jeux ont augmenté nettement plus rapidement que dans d'autres régions d'Allemagne. En revanche, on ne constate aucun effet sur l'emploi.

Jeux olympiques Méga événement Revenu Emploi

Jasmand S. und Maennig W. Regionale Einkommens- und Beschäftigungseffekte der Olympischen Sommerspiele von München 1972, Regional Studies. Olympische Spiele können Wirkungen auf Einkommen und Beschäftigung in den Ausrichterstädten haben. Die vorliegende Studie ist die erste entsprechende Untersuchung für eine europäische Stadt. Die Länge der Untersuchungsperiode erlaubt erstmals die Analyse von langfristigen Effekten. Zudem vermeidet die verwendete Methode eine Überschätzung der Signifikanz der Effekte. Schließlich werden die Ergebnisse aller denkbaren Kombinationen von vor- und nacholympischen Perioden berichtet. Die Einkommen in Olympischen Regionen stiegen signifikant schneller als in anderen deutschen Regionen. Beschäftigungswirkungen sind hingegen nicht nachweisbar.

Olympische Spiele Mega-Ereignisse Einkommen Beschäftigung

Jasmand S. y Maennig W. Ingresos regionales y efectos en el empleo de los Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de Múnich de 1972, Regional Studies. Aunque los Juegos Olímpicos podrían influir en los ingresos y el empleo de la ciudad anfitriona, hasta ahora todavía no se ha llevado a cabo un estudio ex-post para los Juegos Olímpicos en ciudades anfitrionas europeas. El presente estudio cubre este vacío con un análisis sobre los Juegos Olímpicos de Múnich de 1972. Examinando los datos durante ese periodo en este estudio podemos analizar los efectos a largo plazo. Además, la metodología utilizada evita valorar en exceso la importancia de tales efectos. Finalmente, damos los resultados de todas las combinaciones posibles de los periodos antes y después de los Juegos Olímpicos. Resultados: los ingresos en las regiones donde se celebraron los Juegos Olímpicos crecieron mucho más rápido que los de otras regiones alemanas. En cambio no se observaron efectos en el empleo.

Juegos Olímpicos Mega eventos Ingresos Empleo

Keywords:

• Olympic Games
• Mega events
• Income
• Employment

JEL classifications:

• L83
• O18
• R11
• R53
• R58

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Annekatrin Niebuhr and Silvia Stiller and three anonymous referees for their valuable comments.

Notes

1. Cf., for example, the objectives of Los Angeles 1984, Atlanta 1996 and Salt Lake 2002 (Andranovich et al., 2001, p. 119).

2. For an overview on ex-ante economic impact studies of Olympic Games, see Preuss (2004, p. 45).

3. In the case of the Olympic Games, an ‘expectations’ crowding-out effect should also be added. Tourism levels regularly fall dramatically in the months preceding the Games, as (potential) tourists expect to find bothersome construction works, etc. Ski tourism, for example, fell by 20% in Alberta and by 9% in Utah in 2002 (Intervistas Consulting, 2002, p. 24). In the first half of 2004, tourism in Greece fell by 12–15% (Kadritzke, 2004).

4. The hypothesis that the Olympic Games have had a positive effect on all regions in the USA is rejected by Baade and Matheson (2002). Hotchkiss et al. (2003) did not test for this.

5. Political events such as new legislation can be regarded as ‘classical’ cases for the DID approach. One of the first economic papers to utilize this approach is by Card and Krueger (1994) who analyse the effects of minimum wages in two US states.

6. The four variables are described in greater detail in the next paragraphs.

7. NUTS denotes Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (Europe). For the definition of NUTS0/1/2/3 classification, see http://ec.europa.eu/comm/eurostat/ramon/nuts/basicnuts_regions_en.html (accessed on 10 July 2006).

8. Population figures for the same year often displayed an atheoretical negative influence and were therefore not considered.

9. For a detailed discussion of the DID methodology, cf. Athey and Imbens (2002).

10. Bertrand et al. (2004) attribute this to three complementary reasons. First, for the most part, DID studies use relatively long time series. Second, the dependent variables used are typically correlated. Third, the independent variable I _i of a region changes only minimally over time.

11. In the following subsection, it denotes employment effects.

12. For the observation period 1984–86, which is admittedly not particularly relevant, there was even a significantly negative income effect.

13. Los Angeles 1984: 25 000 person-years (Perelman, 1985, p. 121); Atlanta 1996: 77 000 person-years (Humphreys and Plummer, 1992, p. 3); Sydney 2000: 5300–7500 additional jobs over 12 years (Centre for Regional Economic Analysis, 1999, p. 1). For Athens 2004, an additional 150 000 person-years of employment was estimated (McKay and Plumb, 1991). Kwag (1988) with an estimated 344 000 person-years of additional employment for Seoul 1988, is at the upper end of the scale. The impulse expected from Winter Games is usually smaller (cf., e.g. Nichols Applied Management for Calgary and Utah Division of Trade Development, 1988, for Salt Lake City).