Original title: Pandemics’ backlash: the effects of the 1918 influenza on health attitudes and behavior
Authors: Ochsner, Christian ; Schmid, L.
Document type: Research reports
Year: 2025
Language: eng
Series: CERGE-EI Working Paper Series, volume: 796
Abstract: We study the effects of the largest adverse health shock in modern medicine—the 1918 influenza pandemic—on subsequent shifts in health-related attitudes and behavior and future-oriented policies. Our analysis builds upon self-digitized, individual-level death-register excerpts, vaccination records, and popular vote counts. We find that greater exposure to influenza leads to a decline in societal support for public health measures at the aggregate level, mainly triggered by deceased peers. However, individual-level data reveal increased vaccination rates in families who experienced influenza-related deaths. These differences did not exist before the pandemic. Our findings link to a U-shaped relationship between suffering from the pandemic and support for effective health policies. Places with predominantly indirectly-affected families drive the aggregate backlash. This challenges the idea that past health shocks improve life expectancy through societal learning.
Keywords: 1918 influenza pandemic; health attitudes; health behavior
Project no.: GF23-09092L (CEP)
Funding provider: GA ČR

Institution: Economics Institute AS ČR (web)
Document availability information: Fulltext is available at external website.
External URL: https://www.cerge-ei.cz/pdf/wp/Wp796.pdf
Original record: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0367114

Permalink: http://www.nusl.cz/ntk/nusl-680516


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