Do the Olympics Matter to Markets?

In an FT article dismissing current weakness in Euro markets comes this candidate for dumb-ass throwaway economic comment of the year:

...the eurozone’s strengths are too often hidden. Here is the clincher: eurozone countries together won more medals at the Beijing Olympics than either China or the U.S.

I'm going to call bullshit on this supposed economics indicator.

And, if we're playing fast and loose with relevance:

Here are the top twenty countries in terms of GDP/gold medal at the Beijing Olympics. In other words, this is the list of countries that spent, loosely speaking, the most for the least.

Country	Golds	GDP/Gold
India	1	1,090,000
Turkey	1	663,400
Japan	9	482,889
Canada	3	468,667
Mexico	2	443,200
Belgium	1	442,800
Brazil	3	438,000
Indonesia	1	410,300
United States	36	383,056
France	7	359,286
Iran	1	294,100
Spain	5	283,000
Italy	8	258,500
Finland	1	236,100
Portugal	1	219,500
Switzerland	2	206,950
Germany	16	203,688
Denmark	2	155,350
Great Britain	19	145,947

And here is the opposite list: Countries with the lowest GDP/gold medal ratios. Jamaica and Ukraine really stand out.

Country	Golds	GDP/Gold
Zimbabwe	1	0
North Korea	2	1,110
Jamaica	6	1,484
Mongolia	2	1,927
Georgia	3	3,184
Ethiopia	4	4,225
Kenya	5	5,900
Belarus	4	9,680
Bahrain	1	16,890
Panama	1	19,280
Ukraine	7	20,071
Uzbekistan	1	20,180
Cameroon	1	20,930
Estonia	1	21,200
Cuba	2	22,550
Slovakia	3	23,857
Azerbaijan	1	31,070
Tunisia	1	34,540
Dominican Republic	1	35,490

[via Symworld]

Comments

[Marco Polo:]

No comment on the indicator, which I also think is BS (sorry about the contradiction).
What surprises me is India; I watched most of the Olympic coverage and I didn't see any Indian athletes; not one. How I managed to miss that one gold is a complete mystery to me. How does a country the size of India not manage to produce any Olympic athletes (save one)?

2008 Aug 26 11:06 AM

[ksmithdc:]

I can't believe this guy gets paid to write this rancid piffle.

2008 Aug 26 11:07 AM

[Steven Hansen:]

lighten up. the news is mostly negative and a little creativity with meaningless facts breaks up an otherwise bad day.

2008 Aug 27 12:27 AM