A new version of this entry is available:
Loading...
ResearchPaper
2019
Who are the champions? Inequality, economic freedom and the olympics
Who are the champions? Inequality, economic freedom and the olympics
Abstract (English)
Does a countrys level of inequality affect its ability to win Olympic medals? If it does, is it conditional on institutional factors? We argue that the ability of economically free societies to win medals will not be affected by inequality. In these societies, institutions generate incentives to invest in the talent pool of individuals at the bottom of the income distribution (people who are otherwise constrained in the ability to expend resources on athletic training). These effects cancel out those of inequality. In unfree societies, the incentives that promote investments in skills across the income distribution are weaker. Consequently, the effects of inequality on the ability to win are stronger. Using the Olympics of 2012 and 2016 in combination with the Economic Freedom of the World Index, we find that inequality only matters in determining medal numbers for unfree countries. We link these results to the debates on inequality.
File is subject to an embargo until
This is a correction to:
A correction to this entry is available:
This is a new version of:
Notes
Publication license
Publication series
Hohenheim discussion papers in business, economics and social sciences; 2019,13
Published in
Faculty
Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences
Institute
Institute of Economics
Examination date
Supervisor
Edition / version
Citation
Identification
DOI
ISSN
ISBN
Language
English
Publisher
Publisher place
Classification (DDC)
330 Economics
Original object
Free keywords
Standardized keywords (GND)
Sustainable Development Goals
BibTeX
@techreport{Geloso2019,
url = {https://hohpublica.uni-hohenheim.de/handle/123456789/6457},
author = {Geloso, Vincent and Kufenko, Vadim},
title = {Who are the champions? Inequality, economic freedom and the olympics},
year = {2019},
school = {Universität Hohenheim},
series = {Hohenheim discussion papers in business, economics and social sciences},
}