Hana Sultan
Class of 2025San Ramon, CA
About
Hi! My name is Hana Sultan and my Polygence project is on the economic impacts of non-pharmaceutical interventions during the 1918 Spanish Flu and COVID-19 pandemics. I chose to work on this project because it was a great opportunity to dive deeper into a field I'm interested in, and it ultimately solidified my decision to pursue Economics in college!Projects
- "What parallels can we find between the economic impacts of the relief efforts from the 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic and the COVID 19 Pandemic in order to inform future pandemic responses?" with mentor Alena (Sept. 22, 2024)
Project Portfolio
What parallels can we find between the economic impacts of the relief efforts from the 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic and the COVID 19 Pandemic in order to inform future pandemic responses?
Started June 5, 2024
Abstract or project description
In this project I will conduct a comparative analysis of the economic relief efforts post-pandemic from the 1918 Spanish Flu and COVID-19. I’ll begin by contextualizing the impacts of the Spanish Flu with the overshadowing of the recent WWI and the differences in the mortality groups between the two pandemic, leading to difficulty making definitive economic conclusions. After giving this background, I’ll introduce data from non-pharmaceutical intervention methods (NPIs) used during the 1918 pandemic in 16 U.S. cities, and explore their economic consequences through linear regressions using difference-in-differences techniques. Our results indicate reduced wage growth due to NPIs, which we use to draw parallels with the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, I discuss limitations of our data collection and recommendations for future pandemic policy for improved economic and health outcomes, including targeted NPI policy and stimulus packages to reduce the effects of recession.