Economic evaluation of mega events: beyond input-output

Abstract

The work examines “Economic evaluation of mega events: beyond input-output”, bringing into relation the territorial dimension with the relevant economic and institutional aspects. With the candidacy of Milan and Cortina as the venues of the Winter Olympics of 2026, the economic evaluation is again called to provide results to the public decision-maker and public opinion on the opportunity to host the event. Now, several naive applications (not to mention, sometimes, instrumental) of the method have been the subject of strong criticism by economists. Although the comparison between results is made difficult by the fact that the shocks considered are not always identical, we can present the following comparisons. This highlights the need to complete impact studies with prescribed analysis, typically Welfare Economics. This is what made for London 2012 in the work of Adam Blake who obtains an Equivalent Variation of 736 mln £, i.e. a third of the impact on GDP. Sayman (2014) even indicates that, for the big events, both ACB and CGE now exceed in quantity the Input-Output studies, an evolution that has little touched Italy so far.

Keywords

assessment of policies; big events; Italy; infrastructure; welfare welfare; prices and competition

JEL codes

H43; D61; Z20