A Kick for the GDP: The Effect of Winning the FIFA World Cup

This paper uses OECD data to examine whether winning the men's FIFA World Cup boosts GDP growth, as claimed by analysts and media outlets concomitantly with every edition of this football competition. By implementing both an event-study design and a synthetic difference-in-difference strategy, the analysis shows that winning the World Cup increases year-over-year GDP growth by at least 0.48 percentage points in the two subsequent quarters. This result seems primarily driven by enhanced export growth, which is consistent with a greater appeal enjoyed by national products and services on the global market after victory in a major sporting event.