Estimating the Impacts of Special Events on an Economy

Special events are typically regarded as major generators of economic activity and jobs. Despite its continued use in event assessment, Input-Output (I-O) analysis has been rejected in other areas of economic impact evaluation in favor of more rigorous evaluation techniques that recognize resource constraints in the economy and interindustry effects of demand shocks. This article discusses traditional and alternative perspectives on event assessment and the assumptions on which each approach are based. Illustrative results are then provided from a study that contrasted the economic impacts from a selected event analyzed by use of a traditional I-O approach, with estimates provided through the use of a more comprehensive computable general equilibrium (CGE) model. Issues involved in the wider use of CGE models for event assessment are discussed together with the need for further development in event evaluation techniques.