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School of Business and Management

The host with the most? The effects of the Olympic Games on happiness

5 October 2016

Time: 1:00 - 2:00pm
Venue: 4.04/4.08 Bancroft Building

Abstract

The research paper presented shows that hosting the Olympic Games in 2012 had a positive impact on the life satisfaction and happiness of Londoners during the Games, compared to residents of Paris and Berlin. Notwithstanding issues of causal inference, the magnitude of the effects is equivalent to moving from the bottom to the fourth income decile. But the effects do not last very long: they are gone within a year. These conclusions are based on a novel panel survey of 26,000 individuals who were interviewed during the summers of 2011, 2012, and 2013, ie before, during, and after the London Olympics. The results are robust to selection into the survey and to the number of medals won.

Find out more about the research paper on the School of Business and Management website. 

Speaker

Dr Georgios Kavetsos, Lecturer in Behavioural Science at the School of Business and Management, Queen Mary University of London.

Register

If you would like to attend the seminar, please email Alicia George: alicia.george@qmul.ac.uk.

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