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The Effect Of The 1918 Influenza Pandemic On U.S. Life Insurance Holdings, Dr. Joanna Short
The Effect Of The 1918 Influenza Pandemic On U.S. Life Insurance Holdings, Dr. Joanna Short
Economics: Faculty Scholarship & Creative Works
This paper examines the effect of a sharp rise in mortality, the 1918 influenza epidemic, on life insurance holdings in the U.S. The BLS Cost of Living Surveys of 1918-1919 provide a unique opportunity to examine the effect of the pandemic—some households were surveyed before, and others during or shortly after the worst of the influenza outbreak. In addition, I use state-level insurance sales data to compare the increase in spending on insurance in states particularly hard hit by the epidemic, relative to those that were not. I find some evidence that, in the immediate aftermath of the epidemic, those …