Abstract

Every year in Germany there is the so-called "Grippewelle",  a seasonal influenza outbreak, which leads to a high number of sickness notifications and a reduction of labour supply at very short notice. The influenza epedimic varies strongly, both seasonally  and geographically. In this project we use external raster data of the Robert Koch Institute indicating the geographical Distribution and intensity of the flu epidemic. We combine these data with establishment and firm level data available at the IAB to analyze the causal effect of labour supply shocks on the productivity of firms.