Pandemics and regional economic growth: evidence from the Great Influenza in Italy

Mario Carillo and Tullio Jappelli ()

European Review of Economic History, 2022, vol. 26, issue 1, 78-106

Abstract: We investigate the link between the 1918 Great Influenza and regional economic growth in Italy, a country in which the measures implemented by public authorities to contain the contagion were limited or ineffective. The pandemic caused 600,000 deaths in Italy: 1.2% of the population. Going from regions with the lowest mortality to those with the highest mortality is associated to a decline in per capita GDP growth of 6.5%, which dissipated within 3 years. Our estimates provide an upper bound of the adverse effect of pandemics on regional economic growth in the absence of non-pharmaceutical public-health interventions.

Date: 2022
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:ereveh:v:26:y:2022:i:1:p:78-106.

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