Death and the stock market: international evidence from the Spanish Flu
Richard C. K. Burdekin
Abstract
The coronavirus pandemic in 2020 was the most devastating worldwide health threat since the 1918–1919 Spanish flu. Panel regression analysis for ten countries suggests that European and US stock markets reacted significantly, and negatively, to the surging death rates that were seen during the Spanish Flu. It is possible that the greater death rates for the Spanish Flu vis-a-vis the coronavirus account for stock market effects being more evident in 1918–1919 than in 2020.
Topics & Concepts
PandemicStock marketStock (firearms)Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)CoronavirusInfluenza pandemicEconomicsFinancial economicsGeographyMedicineInternal medicineInfectious disease (medical specialty)DiseaseArchaeologyContext (archaeology)Global Health Care IssuesCOVID-19 Pandemic ImpactsInsurance, Mortality, Demography, Risk Management