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Accounting for Achievement in Athens: A Count Data Analysis of National Olympic Performance

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Author Info
Glen Roberts () (Department of Economics, University of Victoria)
Abstract

We model summer Olympic medal counts using count data analysis. The advantage of this methodology is its explicit recognition of the discrete non-negative form of the dependent variable; i.e. the total number of medals won by a nation in a summer Olympiad. Using data from the most recent 2004 Summer Games in Athens, Poisson and negative binomial count data regression models are constructed. The chosen model is negative binomial and attaches statistical significance to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita, the age dependency ratio, and a relatively cold climate. In contrast to previous studies, population, health expenditure per capita, and the effect of being a host or neighbour nation of an Olympiad are all insignificant in explaining medal counts. We also find no “cricket effect” or “rugby effect.”

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Department of Economics, University of Victoria in its series Econometrics Working Papers with number 0602.

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Length: 13 pages
Date of creation: 16 Aug 2006
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Handle: RePEc:vic:vicewp:0602

Note: ISSN 1485-6441
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Related research
Keywords: Olympics; count data; Poisson model; negative binomial model;

Find related papers by JEL classification:
C16 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: General - - - Econometric and Statistical Methods; Specific Distributions
C25 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Discrete Regression and Qualitative Choice Models
L83 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Sports; Gambling; Recreation; Tourism

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Daniel K. N. Johnson & Ayfer Ali, 2004. "A Tale of Two Seasons: Participation and Medal Counts at the Summer and Winter Olympic Games," Social Science Quarterly, The Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 85(4), pages 974-993. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Andrew B. Bernard & Meghan R. Busse, 2004. "Who Wins the Olympic Games: Economic Resources and Medal Totals," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 86(1), pages 413-417, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Hoffman, Robert & Ging, Lee Chew & Ramasamy, Bala, 2002. "Public Policy and Olympic Success," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 9(8), pages 545-48, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Masters, William A. & McMillan, Margaret S., 2001. "Climate And Scale In Economic Growth," Miscellaneous Papers 11845, Agecon Search. [Downloadable!]
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  5. Imad A. Moosa & Lee Smith, 2004. "Economic Development Indicators as Determinants of Medal Winning at the Sydney Olympics: An Extreme Bounds Analysis," Australian Economic Papers, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 43(3), pages 288-301, 09. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Georgios Kavetsos & Stefan Szymanski, 2008. "National Wellbeing and International Sports Events," Working Papers 0804, International Association of Sports Economists. [Downloadable!]
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