Do socioeconomic factors of a country affect its sports achievements in Commonwealth Games?

Siddharth Kumar, Naresh Chandra Sahu, Pushp Kumar

Abstract


Several studies have analysed the factors affecting the performance of a country in various sports events. The empirical literature on the effect of socioeconomic factors of a country on its sports achievements is scarce. The existing studies have been focused on the Olympic Games and have ignored the other mega-events like Commonwealth Games. This study contributes to the surprisingly sparse empirical literature on the socioeconomic factors that contribute to the sports achievements of a country. The study is aimed at investigating the relationship of socioeconomic factors of a country with its sports achievements in Commonwealth Games during 1962–2014. The sports achievements are measured by the total number of medals won in a Commonwealth Games edition. By using panel data of 10 major countries which have participated in Commonwealth Games during the period, the study adopts  Poisson regression and panel negative binomial regression analysis. The results of the study reveal that hosting advantage contributes maximum to the increase in sports achievements of a country. Life expectancy, per capita GDP, and literacy rate also play a positive and significant role in getting additional medals for a country.

Keywords


Commonwealth games; medal counts; negative binomial regression; socioeconomic factors

Full Text:

PDF

References


American heritage dictionary of the English language. (2000) (3rd ed.). New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Bernard, A. B., & Busse, M. R. (2004). Who wins the Olympic games: Economic resources and medal totals. Review of Economics and Statistics, 86(1), 413–417. https://doi.org/10.1162/003465304774201824

Chimka, J. R., & Talafuse, T. P. (2016). Poisson regression analysis of additional strokes assessed at golf. International Journal of Sports Science and Coaching, 11(4), 619–622. https://doi.org/10.1177/1747954116654785

Colin, C. A., & Trivedi, P. K. (2005). Microeconometrics: Methods and applications (1st ed.). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Emrich, E., Klein, M., Pitsch, W., & Pierdzioch, C. (2012). On the determinants of sporting success - A note on the Olympic Games. Economics Bulletin, 32(3), 1890–1901.

Forrest, D., Sanz, I., & Tena, J. D. (2010). Forecasting national team medal totals at the Summer Olympic Games. International Journal of Forecasting, 26(3), 576–588. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijforecast.2009.12.007

History of the games. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://gc2018.com/history-games

Hoffmann, R., Ging, L. C., & Ramasamy, B. (2002). Public policy and Olympic success. Applied Economics Letters, 9(8), 545–548. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504850110102784

Johnson, D. K. N., & Ali, A. (2004). A tale of two seasons: Participation and medal counts at the summer and winter Olympic games. Social Science Quarterly, 85(4), 974–993. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0038-4941.2004.00254.x

Klein, M. W. (2004). Work and Play: International Evidence of Gender Equality in Employment and Sports. Journal of Sports Economics, 5(3), 227–242. https://doi.org/10.1177/1527002503257836

Leeds, M. A., & Leeds, E. M. (2009). International soccer success and national institutions. Journal of Sports Economics, 10(4), 369–390. https://doi.org/10.1177/1527002508329864

Lowen, A., Deaner, R. O., & Schmitt, E. (2016). Guys and Gals Going for Gold: The Role of Women’s Empowerment in Olympic Success. Journal of Sports Economics, 17(3), 260–285. https://doi.org/10.1177/1527002514531791

Lui, H. K., & Suen, W. (2008). Men, money, and medals: An econometric analysis of the Olympic games. Pacific Economic Review, 13(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0106.2007.00386.x

Trombley, M. J. (2016). Does artificial grass affect the competitive balance in major league soccer? Journal of Sports Analytics, 2(2), 73–87. https://doi.org/10.3233/jsa-160020

Vagenas, G., & Vlachokyriakou, E. (2012). Olympic medals and demo-economic factors: Novel predictors, the ex-host effect, the exact role of team size, and the “population-GDP” model revisited. Sport Management Review, 15(2), 211–217. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smr.2011.07.001

Young, D. C. (2008). A brief history of the Olympic games. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.


Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.