DO GOOD OLYMPICS MAKE GOOD NEIGHBORS?

"Most studies of mega-events such as Olympic Games find a relatively small impact on the cities that host them. One reason given for this finding is that the event displaces tourists who otherwise would have come to the city. This paper documents such displacement by showing that expenditure at ski resorts in Colorado rose as a result of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. In addition to supporting previous studies, the spillover effect suggests that cities and states that gain from spillovers might want to support bids for events by nearby cities." Copyright (c) 2008 Western Economic Association International.