School Closures, Mortality, and Human Capital: Evidence from the Universe of Closures during the 1918 Pandemic in Sweden

Christian Dahl, Casper Hansen, Peter Jensen, Martin Karlsson and Daniel Kühnle ()
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Daniel Kühnle: University of Duisburg-Essen

No 16592, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This study examines the impact of primary-school closures during the 1918 Pandemic in Sweden on mortality and long-term outcomes of school children. Using the universe of death certificates from 1914-1920 and newly-collected data on school closures across 2,100 districts, we conduct high-frequency event studies at both weekly and daily intervals to show that schools closed in response to local surges in influenza deaths. Faster implementation of school closures significantly reduced peak mortality rates among primary-aged individuals. However, our long-run analysis of approximately 100,000 affected children per grade shows precisely estimated, minor and mostly insignificant effects on longevity, employment, and income.

Keywords: short- and long-run effects; human capital; mortality; 1918 Pandemic; school closures (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I10 J10 N34 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 80 pages
Date: 2023-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem, nep-hea, nep-his, nep-lab and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Working Paper: School Closures, Mortality, and Human Capital: Evidence from the Universe of Closures during the 1918 Pandemic in Sweden (2023)
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