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The 2016 Olympic Games have almost bankrupted Rio de Janeiro, and other world cities are pulling out as potential future hosts because of spiralling costs. Does it ever make economic sense to stage what is often dubbed the greatest show on earth?

Angry protests greeted the Olympic torch as it entered Rio, with many residents furious about the cost of an event that they fear will leave them no lasting economic or social legacy.

Boston, Oslo and Hamburg are just some of the cities that have pulled out of hosting future summer or winter Olympics. It has led some to suggest a major downsizing to safeguard the very future of Olympic hosting, at least in western democracies.

But are these fears justified? Ed Butler is joined by Brazilian-born journalist Juliana Barbassa, Allan Brimicombe from the University of East London, economist Andrew Zimbalist from Smith College in Massachusetts, and Simone Perillo from Rome 2024.

(Photo: A protester calling for a boycott of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Credit: Christophe Simon/Getty Images)