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Going for gold? The intangible effects of the Olympic Games in London, Paris and Berlin

Completed Project

Project Period

April 1, 2011 - March 31, 2014

In Cooperation With

Prof. Dr. Paul Dolan. LSE
Dr. Robert Metcalf, University of Oxford
Prof. Dr. Stefan Szymanski, City University
Dr Georgios Kavetsos, City University
Prof. Dr. Andrew Clark, PSE Ecole Normale Superieure
Prof. Dr. Claudia Senik, PSE and University Paris

This project aims to measure the intangible impact of the 2012 Olympic Games in London, Paris and Berlin. It will achieve this by gathering primary longitudinal data from individuals living in each of the three cities over the period 2011-2013 to see what effect, if any, the Olympics have on a comprehensive set of subjective well-being (SWB) outcomes. In particular, it will uniquely show how these outcomes relate to one another and change over time. Importantly for public policy, it will also shed light on the degree to which different components of SWB are predictive of changes in behaviour that policy-makers are concerned with (e.g. diet and physical activity).

This project is innovative on a number of general scientific fronts. It is the first attempt to establish the impact of experiencing large-scale events on stated preferences from the same individuals over a number of time points and determine the direction of causality from the Olympics to intangible outcomes. Additionally, it is the first panel dataset across Europe, which includes both evaluative and experience measures of SWB and health data.

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