The shadow of the epidemic: Long-term impacts of meningitis exposure on risk preference and behaviors

This study investigates the long-term effects of exposure to infectious disease on individuals’ risk preference and behaviors. Using nationally representative datasets in China, we adopt a difference-in-differences strategy to evaluate the long-term impacts of exposure to China’s 1967 meningitis epidemic. We find that intense exposure to the meningitis epidemic during childhood led to increased risk aversion. In addition, we show that exposure to the meningitis epidemic decreased risky behaviors, including financial investment, credit card usage, entrepreneurship, and migration. Our study may have broad implications for economic–epidemic modeling and post-epidemic assistance programs.