Picture the Problem:
China’s Olympic Efforts

How much will the Beijing Olympics cost?
With an estimated price of roughly $35 billion, the Beijing Olympics may cost almost as much as all of the Olympic Games since 1976 combined, dwarfing recent years . . .

Olympic Expenditures 1996-2008
Olympic Expenditures 96-08

Source: Holger Preuss, “Signaling Growth,” Harvard Asia-Pacific Review 9, no. 1 (Winter 2007).

Where is the money going?
China’s official budgets account for only $16.6 billion of the estimated $35 billion they are spending. Of this figure, only a small fraction goes to the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee for actually staging the games. The rest reportedly goes to . . .


Olympic Committee Spending


Sources: Jeffrey Owen, “Estimating the Costs and Benefits of Hosting Olympic Games,” Industrial Geographer 3, no. 1 (Fall 2005); Zhao Huanxin, “Olympics to Add Oomph to Beijing Economy,” China Daily, January 17, 2006, http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2006-01/17/content_512873.htm.