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Economic and Financial Effects of the 1918-1919 Spanish Flu Pandemic

RCK Burdekin

The 1918-1919 Spanish Flu represented the biggest worldwide health threat prior to the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. Although its mortality effects have been widely studied, much less has been done to assess its economic and financial impact. This mini review incorporates findings from recent studies of the Spanish Flu’s effect on economic performance and stock market performance in the United States and worldwide. Although US impacts may have been very short-lived, more pervasive effects seem evident in other countries. It also appears that contemporary stock market participants reacted significantly, and negatively, to the surging death rates that were seen during the Spanish Flu.

“In the year nineteen eighteen

We’re killed by the disease called influenza

Which finished our beloved relatives

Mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers

In other households no one was left

It took young women and men

It chose the beautiful ones

It even took the good looking men

It took the teenagers

It took even the young maidens

It took the engaged ladies

It took the strummers (bridesmaids)

Even the grooms

It was like there was a black cloud over the earth”

(First stanza of “Influenza 1918” by Reuben Tholakele Caluza -- as presented in English translation by Okigbo, p. 96)