Strengthening State Capacity: Civil Service Reform and Public Sector Performance during the Gilded Age

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Aneja, Abhay; Xu, Guo
• 署名单位: University of California System; University of California Berkeley; University of California System; University of California Berkeley
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0002-8282
• DOI: 10.1257/aer.20230019
• 发表日期: 2024
• 页码: 2352-2387
• 关键词: PENDLETON ACT; patronage; bureaucracy; newspapers; selection; GROWTH

摘要

We use newly digitized records from the post office to study the effects of strengthened state capacity between 1875 and 1901. Exploiting the implementation of the Pendleton Act-a landmark statute that shielded bureaucrats from political interference-across US cities over two waves, , we find that civil service reform reduced postal delivery errors and increased productivity. These improvements were most pronounced during election years when the reform dampened bureaucratic turnover. We provide suggestive evidence that reformed cities witnessed declining local partisan newspapers. Separating politics from administration, , therefore, , not only improved state effectiveness but also weakened the role of local politics.