The 74 Million – Chad Aldeman
“But babies born during the pandemic may also suffer. At least, that’s what happened in the wake of the 1918 flu pandemic, according to a widely cited 2006 paper by Columbia University’s Douglas Almond. Almond looked at the cohort of babies born in the wake of the flu outbreak that hit most severely in late 1918 and early 1919, then followed their life trajectories through 1980. Compared with children born just before or after, children exposed to the flu pandemic were less likely to finish high school, earned less money and were more likely to depend on welfare assistance. The harmful effects were twice as large for nonwhite children.” (more)