THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACT OF SPORTS INDICATORS ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE COUNTRIES OF CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE

Abstract

Sport brings many social benefits that are reflected in general physical and mental health, building sportsmanship, increased satisfaction, as well as socially desirable forms of behaviour. However, investments in sport also cause numerous economic effects such as the creation of new jobs, local and national economy growth, the development of local tourism, the growth of the construction industry, the growth of tax revenues, the development of infrastructure, the promotion of the country’s image, etc. The aim of this paper is to assess the impact of the sports industry, expressed in the export of sports goods and public allocations for sports and recreation, on the economic development of eleven post-socialist countries of Central and Eastern Europe in the period between 2012 and 2022. The paper applied the Within two-way panel regression fixed effects model, the results of which were confirmed by further using of the Artificial Neural Network model. Both methods used confirmed that the strongest and statistically significant impact on the economic development of the considered countries belongs to the exports of sporting goods, followed by a somewhat weaker, but also positive and statistically significant impact of public expenditure on sport and recreation. The article concludes that, although positive and statistically significant, the impact of these variables is still minor compared to some other factors that largely determine the economic trends of the country. Despite this, investments in sport and the development of the sports industry should be increased due to the numerous wider, direct and indirect benefits that sport brings to the entire society.