Avian Flu Crisis: An Economic Update   [open pdf - 493KB]

This report discusses the economic costs of a pandemic flu on a global scale. It uses a model adopted from one used by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) considering the trade and supply chain effects of a global pandemic. It predicts that a mild global pandemic would reduce annual GDP growth rates by 2 percentage points from what it would otherwise be. It estimates that a pandemic on the scale of the 1918 Spanish Influenza would reduce global GDP by 6 percentage points.