Strengthening state capacity: Civil service reform and public sector performance during the gilded age
By: Aneja, Abhay and Xu, Guo
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Material type: 
BookPublisher: The American Economic Review Description: 114(8), Aug, 2024:p.2352-2387.
In:
The American Economic ReviewSummary: 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.-Reproduced
https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aer.20230019
| Item type | Current location | Call number | Vol info | Status | Date due | Barcode |
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Articles
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Indian Institute of Public Administration | 114(8), Aug, 2024:p.2352-2387 | Available | AR133285 |
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.-Reproduced
https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aer.20230019
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