Did the 1918–19 Influenza Pandemic Kill the US Life Insurance Industry?

Abstract

Using a novel, hand-collected dataset of U.S. life insurance companies during the Influenza Pandemic of 1918–19, we show that high-exposure firms charged higher prices on new policies vis-à-vis less exposed firms. Since the pandemic surprisingly increased mortality rates among young adults, we argue that insurers used product pricing as a risk management tool to mitigate the probability of financial distress. Consistent with this channel, health shocks significantly impact firms’ exit and entry decisions depending on a state’s exposure to the disease. Finally, we show that competing explanations for the observed price differences find little support from the data.