Pandemics Depress the Economy, Public Health Interventions Do Not: Evidence from the 1918 Flu

@article{Correia2020PandemicsDT,
  title={Pandemics Depress the Economy, Public Health Interventions Do Not: Evidence from the 1918 Flu},
  author={Sergio Correia and Stephan Luck and Emil Verner},
  journal={Insurance \& Financing in Health Economics eJournal},
  year={2020}
}
Do non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) aimed at reducing mortality during a pandemic necessarily have adverse economic effects? We use variation in the timing and intensity of NPIs across U.S. cities during the 1918 Flu Pandemic to examine their economic impact. While the pandemic itself was associated with economic disruptions in the short run, we find these disruptions were similar across cities with strict and lenient NPIs. In the medium run, we find suggestive evidence that, if anything… 
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378 Citations

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References

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Using data from 43 US cities, Correia, Luck, and Verner (2020) finds that the 1918 Flu pandemic decreased economic growth, but that Non Pharmaceutical Interventions (NPIs) mitigated its adverse…
Non-pharmaceutical interventions and mortality in U.S. cities during the great influenza pandemic, 1918–1919
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