There was a lot of celebrating in Tokyo recently when it was named the host city for the 2020 Summer Olympics. But that joy should have been tempered by the fact that hosting the Olympics is always a money-loser for the host city. How bad is it, why do cities still vie for the “honor,” and is there anyone who profits? On my America Weekend show, I asked Smith College economics professor Andrew Zimbalist, who has crunched the numbers and can’t come up with any gold-medal reasons to want the games so much.
Listen to our conversation here.