Living in a former Olympic Village actually makes students do significantly better in school.
March 19, 2026
Original Paper
An Olympic Opportunity
SSRN · 6344858
The Takeaway
Researchers followed families who were randomly assigned to live in the 2004 Athens Olympic Village through a lottery. They found that the move significantly boosted the grades of 12-to-17-year-olds, with the biggest gains seen in students who had previously been the worst performers.
From the abstract
We use a unique natural experiment in which families were randomly selected to live in the Olympic Village, constructed for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, to assess the impact of improved neighborhood conditions on academic achievement. Comparing 12-17-year-old students who relocated and attended the new schools with non-selected applicants from the same origin schools across Attica, we find a positive, gender-neutral, and significant effect of moving on overall performance. Educational gains, p