Economists Say Olympic Winnings Attatched to GDP

Daniel Gross writes in Slate that economists believe winnings in the Olympics is attatched to a country's GDP.

a team of number crunchers at PriceWaterhouseCoopers has been feeding data on countries' economies, populations, political histories, and past performances into a model that aims to provide a benchmark for expected medal hauls. The London-based crew asserts that the model "is able to explain nearly 90% of the variation in medal shares across countries in recent Olympic Games."

For Olympians, is macroeconomics destiny? Generally speaking, the PwC study shows that countries with the largest populations, the best economic growth, and the best past performances should do well in 2004. "The number of Olympic medals won is directly proportionate to population and/or income level increases," PwC notes. Among all the factors, "GDP matters most in predicting Olympic performance."