Category: Pandemics & Society Seminars

For the fourth Pandemics & Society Seminar of our Fall 2023 series, we are pleased to welcome Professor Erik Hornung (University of Cologne). The seminar will be held on Thursday, 21 September at the normal time (1600 CEST). More information about our speaker and the presentation is below. You can sign up for email notifications about the seminar series, including the Zoom details, here.

Abstract (Working paper)

How do health crises affect election results? We combine a panel of election results from 1893–1933 with spatial heterogeneity in excess mortality due to the 1918 Influenza to assess the pandemic’s effect on voting behavior across German constituencies. Applying a dynamic differences-in-differences approach, we find that areas with higher influenza mortality saw a lasting shift towards left-wing parties. We argue that pandemic intensity increased the salience of public health policy, prompting voters to reward parties signaling competence in health issues. Alternative explanations such as pandemic-induced economic hardship, punishment of incumbents for inadequate policy responses, or polarization of the electorate towards more extremist parties are not supported by our findings.

About the Speaker

Erik Hornung is Professor of Economic History at the University of Cologne, a Research Fellow of the CESifo and CAGE, and a Research Affiliate of the CEPR. He is also Associate Editor of The Economic Journal and a member of the Editorial Boards of The Journal of Economic History and Explorations in Economic History. His research focuses on economic history and long-run development, particularly through analysis of historically important events that determine differences in development over time and space.

For the third Pandemics & Society Seminar of our Fall 2023 series, we are pleased to welcome Rebecca Main (University of Stirling). The seminar will be held on Thursday, 14 September at the normal time (1600 CEST). More information about our speaker and the presentation is below. You can sign up for email notifications about the seminar series, including the Zoom details, here.

Abstract

As one of the oldest and deadliest diseases encountered by humans, plague, caused by Yersinia pestis bacteria, provides an excellent opportunity to advance our understanding of how infectious diseases emerge, persevere, and infect humans for centuries or millennia. The talk introduces the audience to the research project and presents a case study of plague dispersal in two distantly separated regions of the Eurasian steppe – the North Caucasus and Altai-Sayan – during the period of Early Bronze Age human migrations.

About the Speaker

Alongside her positions as Research Assistant and Programme Tutor, Rebecca Main is a doctoral researcher at the University of Stirling. Her research historicises non-textual, palaeoscientific data to determine the natural forces (climate and ecological change) and human activities (mobility and migration, trade, economy, and conflict) responsible for the emergence and spread of Yersinia pestis (plague) in Neolithic and Bronze Age Eurasia. Her research interests are in all-things ancient, delving into evolutionary genetics as well as prehistoric culture, disease, demography, diet, migration, and environmental change.

We are pleased to welcome Eevi Juuti (University of Oulu) to present at the first meeting of the Fall 2023 Pandemics & Society Seminar Series, on Thursday, 24 August (1600 CEST). Information about our speaker and the presentation is below. You can sign up for email notifications about the seminar series here.

Abstract

The first part of the presentation will take an overview of the RECIPE project (Resistant Cities. Urban Planning as Means for Pandemic Prevention), which explores the relationship between built environments and pandemics. The second part will further discuss findings of the study so far.

About the RECIPE Project

The RECIPE project explores the role of urban living environments and the potential of urban planning in anticipation and prevention of infectious diseases and thus pandemic outbreaks. The project combines expertise from the fields of environmental research, environmental health, history, information studies, public health, and urban planning. The project engages citizens, SMEs, planners and health professionals, cross-sectional institutions, and decision makers. The project provides new scientific knowledge of the linkages between urban living environments and health, deepens societal understanding of the linkages, develops tools and methods for resistant urban planning, and encourages cross-sectorial discussions and integrative policies between urban planning and health sectors.

About the Speaker

Eevi Juuti is an architect, urban planner and a doctoral researcher at the University of Oulu specializing in the use of service design and design thinking in the context of built environment. She has also been working with topics concerning environmental health. Now she is working with RECIPE (Resistant Cities. Urban Planning as Means for Pandemic Prevention) project, which explores the relationship between built environments and pandemics.