Does inequality affect outcomes? To answer, we use the microcosm of Olympic competitions by asking whether a country's level of inequality diminishes its performance. If it does, is it conditional on institutional factors? We argue that the ability of economically free societies to win medals will not be affected by inequality. In these societies, institutions generate incentives to invest in the talents of individuals at the bottom of the income distribution (potential athletes otherwise constrained in the ability to expend resources on training). These effects mitigate those of inequality. The incentives that promote investments in skills across the income distribution are weaker in unfree societies and they cannot mitigate the effects of inequality. Using the Olympics of 2016 in combination with the Economic Freedom data, we find that inequality only matters in determining medal numbers for unfree countries. We link these results to inequality and its effects on economic outcomes.

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谁是冠军？不平等、经济自由和奥运会

不平等会影响结果吗？为了回答这个问题，我们通过询问一个国家的不平等程度是否会降低其表现来使用奥运会比赛的缩影。如果有，是否取决于制度因素？我们认为，经济自由社会赢得奖牌的能力不会受到不平等的影响。在这些社会中，机构产生了对处于收入分配底层的个人的才能进行投资的激励（否则，潜在的运动员在将资源用于训练的能力上受到限制）。这些影响减轻了不平等的影响。在不自由的社会中，促进收入分配中技能投资的激励措施较弱，并且无法减轻不平等的影响。结合 2016 年奥运会和经济自由度数据，我们发现，不平等只在决定不自由国家的奖牌数量时很重要。我们将这些结果与不平等及其对经济结果的影响联系起来。