The decreasing returns to gender equality: evidence from the 2012 summer Olympics

Abstract

This article uses data from the World Economic Forum to examine the role that closing the gender gap played in promoting national success at the 2012 summer Olympics. Tobit analysis reveals that economic equality increases weighted medal shares, while political equality is associated with lower success, ceteris paribus. The inverse relationship between political equality and Olympic success becomes manifest once nations reach the 58th percentile in political equality, a category associated with high degrees of overall gender equality. A nonlinear relationship between composite gender equality and Olympic success is found, with 71% of complete equality maximizing weighted medal shares and further increases in equality lowering success, all else equal.

Keywords:

• Olympics
• gender
• Tobit
• equality

JEL Classification:

• L83
• J16

Notes

1 ¹ Klein (2002) uses a similar weighting strategy.

2 ² Hoffman et al. (2002) also use a host dummy in studying a single set of games. For examples of a positive communist effect, see Bernard and Busse (2004), Kuper and Sterken (2003) and Hoffman et al. (2002).

3 ³ This distinguishes it from the UN's gender inequality index. For conciseness, details regarding construction of the index are omitted. See Hausmann et al. (2012) for further information.

4 ⁴ GDP values are converted to US dollars using current exchange rates and are available for 178 participating nations.

5 ⁵ Hoffman et al. (2002) find that cooler-humid and warmer-humid climates provide an advantage relative to dry/arid and tropical/equatorial climates.

6 ⁶ Results available upon request.

7 ⁷ The composite gender index is mean-centred to alleviate any potential problems of colinearity between it and its square.