  This study examines the role of pawnshops as a risk-coping device in prewar
Japan. Using data on pawnshop loans for more than 250 municipalities and
exploiting the 1918-1920 influenza pandemic as a natural experiment, we find
that the adverse health shock increased the total amount of loans from
pawnshops. This is because those who regularly relied on pawnshops borrowed
more money from them than usual to cope with the adverse health shock, and not
because the number of people who used pawnshops increased.
