Demographic Shocks and Women’s Labor Market Participation: Evidence from the 1918 Influenza Pandemic in India
利用印度地区级数据和事件研究方法，发现1918年流感大流行死亡率高的地区在1921年女性劳动参与率暂时上升，主要集中在服务业，可能由寡妇的被迫劳动供给和工资上涨驱动。
How did the 1918 influenza pandemic affect female labor force participation in India over the short run and the medium run? We use an event-study approach at the district level and four waves of decadal census data in order to answer this question. We find that districts most adversely affected by influenza mortality saw a temporary increase in female labor force participation in 1921, an increase that was concentrated in the service sector. We find suggestive evidence that distress labor supply by widows and rising wages help account for this result.