Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

United we feel stronger? On the Olympics and political ideology

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Economics of Governance Aims and scope Submit manuscript

A Correction to this article was published on 22 February 2022

This article has been updated

Abstract

Collective ideologies are a feature of the Olympic Games as individual athletes represent entire nations. Prior research has explored one dimension of Olympic ideology, finding a link between national pride and hosting the Olympics. This paper extends the literature by considering a wider variety of ideological indicators, including willingness to fight for country, confidence in government, and beliefs about different political systems. The results using a series of global surveys across several decades suggest that success at the Olympics and hosting of the Olympics does not guarantee greater citizen support or government legitimacy. Performance in the Summer Olympics has no consistent effect on the ideological views of survey respondents. In terms of hosting the Summer Olympics, host nations experience an increase in willingness to fight but a decrease in government confidence. These effects vary based upon the level of democratic quality of the host nations.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

Change history

Notes

  1. For more details on this, Zhou (2021) provides a detailed review of the cognitive nature of ideology and institutions.

  2. https://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/wvs.jsp.

  3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Olympic_Games_host_cities.

  4. http://www.olympedia.org/.

  5. We also conduct the analysis with total medal count. The results are similar and available upon request.

  6. Clustering standard errors at the country-wave level is not appropriate due to the small number of waves in the sample.

  7. Although there are no Summer Olympics host nations taking the WVS in their Olympic hosting year, it is still important to consider the lagged effect because other countries competing in the Olympics take the WVS in Olympic years.

  8. For example, comparing the four Summer Olympics and four Winter Olympics between 2002–2016, each Summer Olympics has more global TV viewers than each Winter Olympics: https://www.statista.com/statistics/287966/olympic-games-tv-viewership-worldwide/.

  9. For example, the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, Brazil had more than 11,000 athletes from 207 National Olympic Committees (NOCs), but the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea had only 2,914 athletes from 92 NOCs.

  10. South Korea may or may not have a WVS following hosting as the hosting and survey year are both 2018.

  11. Another possibility is that the Summer and Winter Olympics are simply different events, particularly in regard to costs. For example, Flyvbjerg et al. (2020) shows that Summer Olympics hosting typically costs 2–3 times more than Winter Olympics hosting.

  12. https://www.paris2024.org/en/.

References

  • Allen DW, Lantinova V (2013) The ancient Olympics as a signal of city-state strength. Econ Gov 14(1):23–44

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Atkinson G, Mourato S, Szymanski S, Ozdemiroglu E (2008) Are we willing to pay enough to back the bid? Valuing the intangible impacts of London’s bid to host the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. Urban Stud 45(2):419–444

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bairner A, Molnar G (2010) The politics of the Olympics: a survey. Routledge, London

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Caplan B (2001) Rational ignorance versus rational irrationality. Kyklos 54(1):3–26

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Caplan B (2007) The myth of the rational voter: why democracies choose bad policies-new edition. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Cha VD (2009) Beyond the final score: the politics of sport in Asia. Columbia University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Coates D, Humphreys BR (2008) Do economists reach a conclusion on subsidies for sports franchises, stadiums, and mega-events? Econ J Watch 5(3):294–315

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis T, Downie A, Gaier R (2017) Rio 2016 price tag rises to \$13.2 billion. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-olympics-brazil-cost/rio-2016-price-tag-rises-to-13-2-billion-idUSKBN19539C. Accessed 24 May (2021)

  • Denzau AT, North DC (1994) Shared mental models: ideologies and institutions. Kyklos 47(1):3–31

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dimitrova-Grajzl V, Eastwood J, Grajzl P (2016) The longevity of national identity and national pride: evidence from wider Europe. Res Polit 3(2):1–9

    Google Scholar 

  • Dolan P, Kavetsos G, Krekel C, Mavridis D, Metcalfe R, Senik C, Szymanski S, Ziebarth NR (2019) Quantifying the intangible impact of the Olympics using subjective well-being data. J Public Econ 177:104043

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elling A, Van Hilvoorde I, Van Den Dool R (2014) Creating or awakening national pride through sporting success: a longitudinal study on macro effects in the Netherlands. Int Rev Sociol Sport 49(2):129–151

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flyvbjerg B, Budzier A, Lunn D (2020) Regression to the tail: why the Olympics blow up. Econ Space Environ Plan A 233–260

  • Gassmann F, Haut J, Emrich E (2020) The effect of the 2014 and 2018 FIFA World Cup tournaments on German national pride. A natural experiment. Appl Econ Lett 27(19):1541–1545

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grix J (2012) The politics of sports mega-events. Polit Insight 3(1):4–7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grix J (2013) Sport politics and the Olympics. Polit Stud Rev 11(1):15–25

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grix J, Houlihan B (2014) Sports mega-events as part of a nation’s soft power strategy: the cases of Germany (2006) and the UK (2012). Br J Polit Int Relat 16(4):572–596

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grix J, Lee D (2013) Soft power, sports mega-events and emerging states: the lure of the politics of attraction. Glob Soc 27(4):521–536

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guttmann A (2002) The Olympics: a history of the modern games. University of Illinois Press, Urbana

    Google Scholar 

  • Hayek FA (1988) The fatal conceit: the errors of socialism. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Hoffmann R, Ging LC, Ramasamy B (2004) Olympic success and ASEAN countries: economic analysis and policy implications. J Sports Econ 5(3):262–276

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Horne J, Whannel G (2020) Understanding the Olympics. Routledge, London

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Houlihan B (1997) Sport, national identity and public policy. Nations Natl 3(1):113–137

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Humphreys BR, Johnson BK, Mason DS, Whitehead JC (2018) Estimating the value of medal success in the Olympic Games. J Sports Econ 19(3):398–416

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Humphreys BR, Johnson BK, Whitehead JC (2020) Validity and reliability of contingent valuation and life satisfaction measures of welfare: an application to the value of national Olympic success. South Econ J 87(1):316–330

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kavetsos G (2012) National pride: war minus the shooting. Soc Indic Res 106(1):173–185

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kavetsos G, Szymanski S (2010) National well-being and international sports events. J Econ Psychol 31(2):158–171

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laudenbach C, Malmendier U, Niessen-Ruenzi A (2019) Emotional tagging and belief formation: the long-lasting effects of experiencing communism. In: AEA papers and proceedings, vol 109, pp 567–71

  • Lenskyj H (2000) Inside the Olympic industry: power, politics, and activism. State University of New York Press, Albany

    Google Scholar 

  • Lenskyj HJ (2002) The Best Olympics Ever? Social impacts of Sydney 2000. State University of New York Press, Albany

    Google Scholar 

  • Lenskyj HJ (2008) Olympic industry resistance: challenging Olympic power and propaganda. State University of New York Press, Albany

    Google Scholar 

  • Lenskyj HJ (2010) Olympic power, Olympic politics: behind the scenes. In: Bairner A, Molnar G (eds) The politics of the Olympics: a survey. Routledge, London, pp 15–26

    Google Scholar 

  • Meier HE, Mutz M (2018) Political regimes and sport-related national pride: a cross-national analysis. Int J Sport Policy Polit 10(3):525–548

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murphy RH (2020) Markets against modernity: ecological irrationality, public and private. Lexington Books, Lanham

    Google Scholar 

  • Mutz M, Gerke M (2018) Major sporting events and national identification: the moderating effect of emotional involvement and the role of the media. Commun Sport 6(5):605–626

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Noland M, Stahler K (2017) An old boys club no more: pluralism in participation and performance at the Olympic Games. J Sports Econ 18(5):506–536

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • North DC (1981) Structure and change in economic history. Norton, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Olson M (1965) The logic of collective action: public goods and the theory of groups. Harvard University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Potts TB (2021) Does it pay to play by the rules? Respect for rule of law, control of corruption, and national success at the Summer Olympics. J Sports Econ (in press)

  • Scharpf FW (1997) Economic integration, democracy and the welfare state. J Eur Publ Policy 4(1):18–36

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Storm RK, Jakobsen TG (2020) National pride, sporting success and event hosting: an analysis of intangible effects related to major athletic tournaments. Int J Sport Policy Polit 12(1):163–178

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Streicher T, Schmidt SL, Schreyer D (2019) Referenda on hosting the Olympics: what drives voter turnout? J Sports Econ 20(5):627–653

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tcha M (2004) The color of medals: an economic analysis of the Eastern and Western blocs’ performance in the Olympics. J Sports Econ 5(4):311–328

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tomlinson R (2010) Whose accolades? An alternative perspective on motivations for hosting the Olympics. Urban Forum 21(2):139–152

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walton H, Longo A, Dawson P (2008) A contingent valuation of the 2012 London Olympic Games: a regional perspective. J Sports Econ 9(3):304–317

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Watts J (2016) Have the Olympics been worth it for Rio? The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/21/rio-olympics-residents-impact-future-legacy. Accessed 24 May (2021)

  • Wicker P, Whitehead JC, Mason DS, Johnson BK (2017) Public support for hosting the Olympic Summer Games in Germany: the CVM approach. Urban Stud 54(15):3597–3614

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhou Y (2021) Ideology, censorship, and propaganda: unifying shared mental models. Available at SSRN 3821161

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics, Georgia Gwinnett College, School of Business, 1000 University Center Lane, Lawrenceville, GA , 30043, USA

    Josh Matti

  2. Department of Economics, University of North Texas, College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences, 1155 Union Circle #311457, Denton, TX, 76203-5017, USA

    Yang Zhou

Authors
  1. Josh Matti
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Yang Zhou
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Josh Matti.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

The authors would like to thank the lead guest editor Brad Humphreys and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions.

The original online version of this article was revised: The affiliation of the authors was incorrect. Now, they have been corrected.

Appendices

Appendix 1: Robustness check—one year lag

See Tables 8 and 9.

Table 8 Summer Olympics gold medals and host & one year lag of Olympics medal
Full size table
Table 9 Summer Olympics gold medals and host & polity2 interactions & one year lag of Olympics medal
Full size table

Appendix 2: Robustness check—equivalent prep and post periods

See Tables 10 and 11.

Table 10 Summer Olympics gold medals and host—pre/post treatment equivalent
Full size table
Table 11 Summer Olympics gold medals and host & polity2 interactions—pre/post treatment equivalent
Full size table

Appendix 3: Robustness check—winter Olympics

See Tables 12, 13, 14 and 15.

Table 12 Winter Olympics gold medals and host
Full size table
Table 13 Winter Olympics gold medals and host & polity2 interactions
Full size table
Table 14 Summer & winter pooled treatment
Full size table
Table 15 Summer & winter pooled treatment, with polity2 interaction term
Full size table

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Matti, J., Zhou, Y. United we feel stronger? On the Olympics and political ideology. Econ Gov 23, 271–300 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10101-022-00265-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10101-022-00265-2

Keywords

JEL Classification

Search

Navigation