Socioeconomic Determinants of Success at the Summer Paralympics

For the first time, the determinants of a country’s success at the Paralympic Games are studied, using data from four editions, starting in 1996. By means of a tobit panel, the authors find that gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, population, having many participants per million inhabitants, being a former communist country, hosting the Paralympics, being a former host, and surface are positively related to success as measured by the (weighted) number of medals won. Deviations from the ideal temperature to practice sports negatively affect Paralympic success.