Is it possible that Germany, which last night beat Argentina 1-0 in the final of the World Cup, will end up losing in terms of economic growth?
Is it possible that the Brazilian economy was the real winner when the football team of this country lost to Germany 7-1 in the semifinals? A strong historical trend suggests that the answer is yes, writes Forbes.
In eight of the last nine World Cups, the country's GDP shrank next year, according to World Bank statistics.
This clear trend dates back to Argentina's victory in 1986. The only exception is in 2010, when Spain became World Champion and the country's GDP grew by a minimum of 0.1% in 2011. In 2010, Spain's economy contracted by 0.2%.
The GDP of the countries that became World Champions in eight of the last nine championships has fallen by an average of 1.14% next year. The effect also seems to be lasting; with five of the last seven winners, the economic downturn continued in the second year after winning the title.
The economy of this year's finalist Argentina grew by 3.0% in 2013, while the German economy grew by 0.4%.
What is the rationale for this trend, however? This may be a coincidence, as the nine cases do not represent a huge sample of data from which to draw conclusions. However, according to some economists, the time spent watching World Cup matches is "paid" in GDP, and fans of the teams that continue first in the tournament spend the most time watching matches.
This is an interesting theory, but the effect on the economy seems too great and long-lasting to be caused by the period of several weeks in which people have been lazy to watch the matches. It is not known to have a similar effect after other popular sporting events such as the Olympics, the final tournament of the US College Basketball Championship, etc.
Maybe it's just something like a disappointment after the World Cup. In the months following the tournament, there seems to be a short-term boost in productivity, followed by a gradual disappointment as people realize that even winning the World Cup will not solve all the country's problems.
Source: profit.bg