Beijing 2008

Economic Impact of the Beijing Olympics 2008

Economic Impact of the Beijing Olympics 2008

Introduction

China spent US $ 40,000 million in the four years prior to the 2008 Beijing Games, which makes about 0.3% of China's annual GDP. Of this amount, 2000 million was directly aimed at stadiums and facilities. Much of the investment was linked to the productivity of the economy, on items such as housing, roads, transit systems and infrastructure that had little to do with the Games. In most of the studies conducted on the effects of the Olympics, the question remains about the benefits that this event has granted for the global economy of China. Analysts are divided on whether the economic benefits yielded a huge investment or has there been a huge expense (The Guardian, 2012). The most prominent benefit, however, was the public image and cultural boost that China received. This purpose of this paper is to research on the above said topic as research is often considered an authentic means of gathering information and relevant facts and data on a topic which has already been investigated; however, it allows the researchers to gain new insight into an old phenomenon (Saunders et al, 2003).

The Olympics have been one of the most influential events in the history of athletic sports, since the time people started taking competitions seriously. Many sports evolved into official sports with the passage of time and the Olympics have always been the key component in bringing these sports together into one package. According to the tradition, there is one host country that organizes the event and participants from all over the world apply and compete to win gold medals for their countries. Host countries often spend large amounts of money for the organization and promotion of the Olympic Games (The Guardian, 2012). Governments, as the defenders of Olympic bids, say the biggest stage in world sport provides important benefits for both the economy and the citizens.

Aims

The aims and objectives of this paper are simple:

To study the impact of the Olympic Games on the economy of London and to assess how well the Games impacted the society.

From the beginning, the role of these games on the economy of societies has been questioned by critics and the relevant literature will focus on this aspect.

Objectives

In this paper, we study the different literature published on this matter and study how effectively the Olympic Games impacted London's economy. Additional objectives of the paper are:

To study the real economic impact of the games on Beijing's economy

To study whether the games had a proper impact on the GDP or not

To analyze previous Olympic events and their benefits/shortfalls

To compare the Olympic event held at London to previous Olympic events

Literature Review

Although people consider the Olympic Games to be extremely beneficial to the society and the country that hosts it, economists have long argued that this is not the case and not always do these games yield desired results. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to consider both the ...