Reevaluating The Economic Growth Effect Of 2008 Beijing Olympic Games:A Synthetic Control Method

Sports events and related industries are an important part of the national economy and one of the driving forces for the growth of the new economy.Large-scale sports events such as the Olympic Games have a great impact on the host region in terms of economy development,cultural promotion and international influence,and the economic effect of the Olympic Games is often the focus of the event organizers’ publicity.There have been many studies at home and abroad on whether hosting large-scale sports events such as the Olympic Games can promote regional economic growth,but no consensus has been reached.Typical quantitative analysis methods include input-output method,costbenefit method,double-difference method,and general equilibrium model etc.This paper attempts to re-evaluate the economic growth effect of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games,a typical large-scale sports event,through an innovative method in the field of econometrics in the past ten years,the synthetic control method.The aim is to find "new kinetic energy" for economic growth,and to provide a case reference for the following research on the economic growth effect of various large-scale sports events to be held in China in the future.This paper takes the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games as a research window,uses the provincial macroeconomic panel data in China,and comprehensively analyzes the impact and specific manifestations of the Olympic Games on Beijing’s economic growth through the synthetic control method.This paper analyzes the overall development level of the economy,that is,per capita GDP,regional investment,consumption,international trade and industrial structure from the Olympic Games,which enriches the depth of research in this field.The results of the study show that: on the one hand,the verification results based on the basic facts of the change direction of Beijing’s per capita GDP after the Olympic Games show that the economic level of the Beijing region has increased significantly during the preparation period for the Olympic Games.From 2010 to 2014,the economic trough effect occurred in the Beijing area.The holding of the Olympic Games suppressed the average per capita GDP growth in Beijing by 2015 yuan.After2015,the long-term economic growth effect of the Beijing Olympic Games appeared and continued to expand.On the other hand,by sorting out the relevant conclusions of the existing research on the impact of the Beijing Olympics on investment,consumption,international trade and industrial structure,this paper conducts a second verification of these conclusions according to the synthetic control method and the autocorrelation model.The empirical results show that: Firstly,hosting the Olympic Games can significantly increase the level of investment in fixed assets in Beijing,and increase the level of foreign investment within a certain period after the games;secondly,there is no evidence that hosting the Olympic Games has a long-term lasting impact on Beijing’s consumption level;thirdly,hosting the Olympic Games can significantly improve the level of international trade in Beijing;fourthly,hosting the Olympic Games has a significant positive effect on the optimization of the industrial structure in Beijing.