New research published by the IMF finds that epidemic outbreaks can have sweeping political effects, though their nature changes drastically over time.

During the disease outbreak, public protest largely stops, the paper finds. But it says that epidemics are associated with greater upheaval over the longer term, as grievances revealed by the crisis emerge.

Social repercussions of pandemics, authored by Philip Barrett and Sophia Chen, relies on an index of social unrest drawing on media reports