Third Quarter Oklahoma Economist Compares Oklahoma’s Economy in 1920 to 2020

 

The Oklahoma City Branch of the Federal Reserve of Kansas City has released its latest issue of the quarterly publication the Oklahoma Economist.

In 1920, the still-new state of Oklahoma was recovering from a global pandemic-the “Spanish flu”-and was suffering from a sharp downturn in commodity prices, both similar to situations today, according to Chad Wilkerson, branch executive, vice president and economist at the Oklahoma City Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.

“The Oklahoma City Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City opened 100 years ago, on Aug. 2, 1920,” he said. “Oklahoma was just getting over the flu outbreak-which lasted from early 1918 through early 1920-killing 7,500 in the state and infecting over 100,000 people, or about 5% of the population. So far, the deaths and cases from COVID-19 are well below those figures, but the uncertainty surrounding the future path of the virus continues to weigh on the state’s and nation’s economies.”

The complete issue is available at Oklahoma Economist.

Source: Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City