Men, money, and medals : an econometric analysis of the Olympic Games

Hon Kwong LUI, Wing SUEN

Research output: Journal PublicationsJournal Article (refereed)peer-review

43 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Population size and the level of income per capita are major determinants of the number of medals won by a country in the 1952–2004 Olympic Games. A parsimonious count (Poisson) model fits the data very well: the squared correlation between the predicted value of the number of medals won and the observed value is about 56%. There exist strong country-specific effects in Olympic medals results. While the USA and China tend to outperform other countries relative to their size and income, the Asian dragons tend to under-perform in the Games.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1-16
Number of pages16
JournalPacific Economic Review
Volume13
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Feb 2008

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Men, money, and medals : an econometric analysis of the Olympic Games'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this