Fetal Exposure to the 1918 Influenza Pandemic in Colonial Korea and Human Capital Development

Abstract

The influenza pandemic of 1918 drastically affected colonial Korea infecting approximately 7.4 million people (44.3% of the total population) and killing approximately 140,000. This study examines the effect of fetal exposure to the pandemic on educational attainment, specifically, years of schooling and literacy among the 1910 to 1929 birth cohort found in the 1960 Korean population census. Using the difference-in-differences approach, we found that fetal exposure substantially deteriorated educational attainment particularly among those born in provinces severely affected by influenza.