Going for Gold: Control Group Selection and Housing Price Analysis for Major Sporting Events

Abstract

This thesis takes on a program-based approach to Difference-in-difference estimation control group selection for analyzing housing price data in wake of hosting major sporting events. Everyone seems to want to be a part of hosting massive sporting events, but public officials frown at the costs that come with it. There are many studies that try and prove that hosting a big sporting event will bring long-term economic growth to the host city or country, but the results are inconsistent at best. Using a matching algorithm based on House Price Index, GDP data, and population data, this study will explore new avenues for conducting area-based Difference-in-difference estimation and analyze housing price changes and their relationship with hosting a major sporting event.