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Title: Do Pandemics Change Healthcare? Evidence from the Great Influenza

Citation Type: Working Paper

Publication Year: 2022

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Abstract: Using newly digitized U.S. city-level data on hospitals, we explore how pandemics alter preferences for healthcare. We find that cities with higher levels of mortality during the Great Influenza of 1918-1919 subsequently expanded hospital capacity by more than cities experiencing less influenza mortality: cities in the top half of the mortality distribution increased their count of hospitals by 8-10 percent in the years after the pandemic. This effect persisted to 1960 and was driven by increases in non-governmental hospitals. Growth responded most in richer cities, exacerbating existing inequalities in access to healthcare. We do not find evidence that government-run hospitals or other types of city-level spending related to healthcare responded to pandemic intensity, suggesting that large health shocks do not necessarily lead to increased public provision of health services.

Url: https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w30643/w30643.pdf

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Authors: Esteves, Rui; James Mitchener, Kris; Nencka, Peter; Thomasson, Melissa A.

Series Title:

Publication Number: 30643

Institution: NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH

Pages: 1-54

Publisher Location: Cambridge, MA

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Health, Population Health and Health Systems

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