Olympic Records in Cost Overruns

Description

When a city bids to host the Olympic Games, part of the bid is a commitment that the city or the national government will cover any cost overruns–and experience suggests the cost overruns will be large.

Alexander Budzier and Bent Flyvbjerg discuss the patterns in “The Oxford Olympics Study 2024: Are Cost and Cost Overrun at the Games Coming Down?” (May 2024, University of Oxford Said Business School, Working paper | 2023-24)...