1918 Influenza Pandemic Across America – New Evidence Using County-Level Data

Journal article

Ezra Goldstein, Carl Kitchens, Annalise Maillet, Luke Rodgers
Explorations in Economic History (Conditionally Accepted), 2026

SSRN Working Paper

Cite

APA Click to copy
Goldstein, E., Kitchens, C., Maillet, A., & Rodgers, L. (2026). 1918 Influenza Pandemic Across America – New Evidence Using County-Level Data. Explorations in Economic History (Conditionally Accepted).

Chicago/Turabian Click to copy
Goldstein, Ezra, Carl Kitchens, Annalise Maillet, and Luke Rodgers. “1918 Influenza Pandemic Across America – New Evidence Using County-Level Data.” Explorations in Economic History (Conditionally Accepted) (2026).

MLA Click to copy
Goldstein, Ezra, et al. “1918 Influenza Pandemic Across America – New Evidence Using County-Level Data.” Explorations in Economic History (Conditionally Accepted), 2026.

BibTeX Click to copy

@article{ezra2026a,
  title = {1918 Influenza Pandemic Across America – New Evidence Using County-Level Data},
  year = {2026},
  journal = {Explorations in Economic History (Conditionally Accepted)},
  author = {Goldstein, Ezra and Kitchens, Carl and Maillet, Annalise and Rodgers, Luke}
}

Using a dose-response framework, we investigate the 1918 Influenza Pandemic andits impact on educational attainment and occupation score across geographies in theUnited States. Relative to prior literature, we greatly expand the geographic coverageof the sample. Using a dose-response design, we show that the 1918 Influenza haddifferent effects in rural and urban locations, however, in urban locations, the neteffect of the flu tended to be close to zero for educational attainment and occupational outcomes.