World Cup, economics and development
The World Cup starts on Friday, and for many of us our productivity will plummet as a result. For me the efficiency-loss started early, as last week I pulled together this brief reading list on football, sports and development. Lots of it we have already blogged about, but some of the new stuff includes:
- The World Cup and Economic 2006
- The Homeless World Cup
- Legal Determinants of World Cup Success
- Impact of Overwhelming Joy on Consumer Demand: The Case of a Soccer World-Cup Victory
- The Soccer Wars: Bono Says the World Cup Is a Peacemaker. Not Quite
- The Beautiful Game: Why Soccer Rules the World
Also see this story about Sierra Leone’s National Amputee Football Team.
I was also recently sent a hard copy of a UBS wealth management report (that I unfortunately can't put online) that selects a World Cup Equity Team and finds that ‘hosting’ stock markets outperform the broad market during the World Cup months, and that staple consumer equities outperform other sub-sectors during the same period. The authors also conclude that these results are mostly psychologically driven.
For more of an international relations perspective, see Michael Moran on the politics of the ‘world’s game’ or Globalisation on the Pitch.
Update: Eldis has a good post on the same topic. Also see UNICEF's Sports, Recereation and Play and When Goldkeepers Strike. Meanwhile, GMI has done a poll of global interest in the World Cup. As much as 27% of respondents plan to take time off for the games (Via Kate Palmer). The tournament has also gone green (Via Grist).
Update: Franklin Foer & Co. are blogging about the World Cup over at the New Republic's blog: Goal Post.
Update: NewScientist has the science behind the World Cup, including:
A mathematical study published in January 2006 confirmed what millions of fans the world over no doubt already suspected: that soccer is not just the world's most popular sport, but also the most exciting.
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I think that there is great potential is using sport as a development tool. Its a common language. Though it is curious (and terribely sad)that we have been able to use sport as a way to fight racial/ethnic tensions in places like the middle east and west africa - though racism of the ugliest form dominates stadiums all across Europe. Unexcusable.
Posted by: Ibrahim Ba | Jun 6, 2006 11:09:47 AM
Ah... now if only Weah had won the Liberian presidency. (And Bradley the one in the US)....
Posted by: Fanatico | Jun 6, 2006 3:03:38 PM
Is this just a coincidence or it was meant to be? I retired 9 months ago and here I am back just in time to chat with my former colleagues and new ones on one the most exciting thing in my life: watching soccer. Why exciting thing in my life? As many colleagues know, I coached soccer for 12 years and officiated games as a USSF certified referee.
I have already given my prognostics and I will just advise you to keep an eye on Croatia. For sure Germany will blow many, then again, it is to be expected of a host. Don't forget little Ronaldinho, big Ronaldo and Adriano of Brazil, they will give you a great show to watch.
Cheers,
Thouria
Posted by: Thouria Nana-Sinkam | Jun 8, 2006 10:07:24 AM
Argentina! Argentina! Argentina!
Posted by: Che' | Jun 8, 2006 10:17:43 AM
How devastated will the rest of the world be when the US wins?
Posted by: john stewart | Jun 8, 2006 10:19:00 AM
I think it would be wonderful if an African nation could win the 2010 world cup in South Africa.
The event should be leveraged to bring in needed infrastructure investments (as well as just plain FDI) not just to South Africa - but to the neighboring countries as well. Traditionally hosting Olympics has been a terrible move for countries - hopefully the story will be different for South Africa in 2010.
Posted by: Eto!! | Jun 8, 2006 12:36:09 PM
Being the greatest show on the earth, football is not just confined in its entertaining quality rather it may turn a boom in the economic development as football is the only unique sports event which has some attraction over the world.
These days, football has direct connection to the business and many seasonal businesses are created on this occasion that helps the economy. I also amazed after reading this article that football is also impacting on share market.
Posted by: Razib Ahmed | Jun 9, 2006 10:06:44 AM
The economic potential of the World Cup is so huge that only the NBA and the Olympic games can compare to it.
The football cup unveils so much passion and expectation that the Organizer country wins just too much.
Posted by: FIFA World Cup - Germany 2006: Unofficial blog | Jun 28, 2006 2:05:08 PM
Great conversation. Here's another link to add... it's an article that I recently wrote about Sports for Social Change.
Posted by: Jeremy M. Goldberg | Mar 6, 2007 5:52:52 PM