THE winners of the football World Cup will not be known until July 13th. But the tournament is already a sporting success. Draws, especially of the goalless variety, have been mercifully rare (see chart). Not since 1958 have so many goals been scored per game in the group stage of a World Cup. What about off the pitch?Start with Brazil’s economy. On the whole, economists agree, big sporting events have negligible impact on output. Money for the infrastructure bonanza beloved of politicians is not conjured from thin air; it is diverted from elsewhere. Productivity dips, too. Holidays have been decreed on some match days to ease pressure on creaking public transport. Before the Brazil-Cameroon game on June 23rd, for example, Brasília was a ghost town; to spare fans inevitable gridlock, public institutions and private firms let workers off early.The São Paulo Federation of Commerce reckons the output lost as a result could reach 30 billion reais ($14 billion), about as much as all World Cup investment put together. Tourism-related earnings, which the government puts at 6.7 billion reais, will not offset this. For every football fan coming to see his team play a...
from The Economist: The Americas http://ift.tt/1pSkmbH
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