While presidential inaugurations routinely attract hundreds of thousands or more visitors to Washington, DC, for the quadrennial celebration, the authors' examination of employment from the Current Employment Statistics survey from 1939 to the present, and both employment and unemployment from the Current Population Survey from 1977 to the present, finds no noticeable effect from the event on either variable. The residents of DC should not expect an inauguration to make them any richer and the city should not count on any economic benefits generated by the event to cover the significant costs of hosting it.
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