Investigation of the Interaction effect of Social Welfare and Elite Sport Development of Iran with Emphasis on Economic and sports variables

Elite sports can play an important role in the economic growth and welfare of societies. On the other hand, welfare as one of the development programs provides the necessary conditions for the success of elite athletes. Therefore, this study aimed to interaction effect of social welfare and elite Sport development.

Simultaneous equations approach with the two-stage least squares method for panel data between 2004 and 2017 for Iranian provinces was used. Data were collected from the Statistics Center, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Sports and Youth, and the National Olympic Committee of Iran. Model of this research consists of two endogenous variables (elite sport development and social welfare) and four exogenous variables for social welfare (misery, education and health and urbanization) and four exogenous variables for the development of elite sports (development and Current budget of sport, coaches and population) were formed. Data were analyzed using Eviews 10 software.

A significant and positive interaction effect exists between social welfare and elite sport development. Also, the Misery index and urbanization have a significant and negative effect on welfare and the effect of development budgets, coaches and population on the elite sport development is positive and significant.

policymakers provide the necessary conditions for international success and the development of elite sports in the country by improving the level of social welfare and solving economic and sports problems, so that these successes lead to greater social welfare through its economic, social and cultural functions.