1918-influenza mortality and the shift in health-related statements and behaviour
Do societies learn from pandemic crises and adapt their stated and revealed health-related behavior? To answer this question, we linked excess mortality during the 1918 influenza to the political support of compulsory vaccination and to vaccination behavior before and after the 1918 influenza.
We relied on the 1922 popular vote in Grisons when Grisons’ voters had to decide about compulsory vaccination and on local smallpox vaccination campaigns from 1907 to 1933. We found that higher excess mortality during the 1918 influenza reduced both the political support for compulsory vaccination and revealed vaccination against pediatric diseases while vaccination hesitancy surged.
By contrast, neither other popular votes nor pre-1918 vaccination behavior correlated with excess mortality. An analysis of all popular votes around this time revealed that communities with high flu mortality became more sceptical towards healthcare claims and regulations while other political domains like infrastructure, law and order or education were not negatively affected by the influenza.
Our results shed novel insight on the public reaction caused by the most deadly pandemic in recent centuries, and discovered parallels to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Speaker
Assistant Professor Christian Ochsner (CERGE-EI)
Christian Ochsner is Assistant Professor at CERGE-EI – a joint workplace of Charles University and the Economic Institute in Prague (Czech Republic).
He obtained his PhD at TU Dresden while working as a junior economist at the Ifo Institute. Christian looks at critical junctures in history and how they matter today.
He uses quasi-experimental settings in history and combines econometric techniques and contextualization. His research mainly contributes to the fields of regional development, political economy and cultural economics. Christian is also a research affiliate at the University of St. Gallen (Switzerland) and teaches economic history and methods of causal inference.
Register now
As part of the Centre of Health Economics' vibrant research culture, we host a weekly seminar series where visiting and invited researchers present current research relating to the economics of health and wellbeing, and the healthcare sector. Visitors are welcome to join these sessions where discussion and debate is encouraged.
Contact shannon.stanwell@monash.edu for registration details
Event Details
- Date:
- 9 March 2022 at 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm
- Venue:
- Online
- Categories:
- Health Economics; CHE Seminar
Description
Do societies learn from pandemic crises and adapt their stated and revealed health-related behavior? To answer this question, we linked excess mortality during the 1918 influenza to the political support of compulsory vaccination and to vaccination behavior before and after the 1918 influenza.
We relied on the 1922 popular vote in Grisons when Grisons’ voters had to decide about compulsory vaccination and on local smallpox vaccination campaigns from 1907 to 1933. We found that higher excess mortality during the 1918 influenza reduced both the political support for compulsory vaccination and revealed vaccination against pediatric diseases while vaccination hesitancy surged.
By contrast, neither other popular votes nor pre-1918 vaccination behavior correlated with excess mortality. An analysis of all popular votes around this time revealed that communities with high flu mortality became more sceptical towards healthcare claims and regulations while other political domains like infrastructure, law and order or education were not negatively affected by the influenza.
Our results shed novel insight on the public reaction caused by the most deadly pandemic in recent centuries, and discovered parallels to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Speaker
Assistant Professor Christian Ochsner (CERGE-EI)
Christian Ochsner is Assistant Professor at CERGE-EI – a joint workplace of Charles University and the Economic Institute in Prague (Czech Republic).
He obtained his PhD at TU Dresden while working as a junior economist at the Ifo Institute. Christian looks at critical junctures in history and how they matter today.
He uses quasi-experimental settings in history and combines econometric techniques and contextualization. His research mainly contributes to the fields of regional development, political economy and cultural economics. Christian is also a research affiliate at the University of St. Gallen (Switzerland) and teaches economic history and methods of causal inference.
Register now
As part of the Centre of Health Economics' vibrant research culture, we host a weekly seminar series where visiting and invited researchers present current research relating to the economics of health and wellbeing, and the healthcare sector. Visitors are welcome to join these sessions where discussion and debate is encouraged.
Contact shannon.stanwell@monash.edu for registration details