The economic effects of big events: evidence from the Great Jubilee 2000 in Rome

This paper assesses the short- and long-term economic impact of the Great Jubilee 2000 on the city of Rome’s economy; this is an important Catholic event that occurs every 25 years. By applying the synthetic control approach, we find that the value added per capita increases slightly in the short term while in the long term it is not significantly different from what it would have been if Rome had not hosted the Jubilee. However, we do find a significant effect on the employment rate. Consistently with these findings, we document a shift of the local economy towards less productive sectors, such as construction and services requiring a lower skill content, and an overall productivity loss for/in Rome with respect to the counterfactual scenario. The investment in infrastructure, facilities and urban requalification did not significantly affect tourism or house prices in the long run, with exception of peripheral residential areas which experienced an appreciation.