Recent studies argue that major crises can have long‐lasting effects on individual behavior. While most studies focused on natural disasters, we explore the consequences of the global pandemic caused by a lethal influenza virus in 1918–19: the so‐called “Spanish Flu.” This was by far the worst pandemic of modern history, causing up to 100 million deaths worldwide. Using information about attitudes of respondents to the General Social Survey, we find evidence that experiencing the pandemic likely had permanent consequences in terms of individuals' social trust. Our findings suggest that lower social trust was passed on to the descendants of the survivors of the Spanish Flu who migrated to the United States. As trust is a crucial factor for long‐term economic development, our research offers a new angle from which to assess current health threats.

中文翻译：

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流行病与信任：西班牙流感案例


最近的研究认为，重大危机可能对个人行为产生长期影响。虽然大多数研究都集中在自然灾害上，但我们探讨了 1918-19 年致命流感病毒（即所谓的“西班牙流感”）引起的全球大流行的后果。这是迄今为止现代历史上最严重的流行病，导致全球多达一亿人死亡。利用一般社会调查受访者态度的信息，我们发现有证据表明，经历这一流行病可能会对个人的社会信任产生永久性影响。我们的研究结果表明，较低的社会信任度传递给了移居美国的西班牙流感幸存者的后代。由于信任是长期经济发展的关键因素，我们的研究提供了评估当前健康威胁的新角度。