Next PANSOC Webinar
On Thursday, 3 February, at 1600 CET, Chinmay Tumbe, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, will present:
India and the 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Mortality Estimates and Correlates
India was the worst affected country in the influenza pandemic of 1918, losing more people than the global battle death toll of World War I. This paper uses a new dataset with more complete coverage than previous studies by incorporating the princely states and using the inter-censal estimation method, estimates mortality to be closer to 20 million, higher than previous estimates. It also analyses the regional variation in influenza mortality and attributes it to undernutrition linked to an acute drought preceding the influenza attack and the accompanying price surge, and compares this explanation with others provided in the literature. Finally, the talk also compares India’s 1918 experience with that of 2021, when it faced its largest shock to all-cause mortality in a century.
Read more about Chinmay and his work here.