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Delivering the Vote: The Political Effect of Free Mail Delivery inEarly Twentieth Century America

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 August 2016

Elisabeth Ruth Perlman  and
Steven Sprick Schuster
Elisabeth Ruth Perlman
Affiliation:
Elisabeth Ruth Perlman is Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Economics, Boston University, 270 Bay State Road, Boston, MA 02215. E-mail: perlmane@bu.edu.
Steven Sprick Schuster
Affiliation:
Steven Sprick Schuster is Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Colgate University, 13 Oak Drive, Hamilton, NY, 13346. E-mail: ssprickschuster@colgate.edu.
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Abstract

The rollout of Rural Free Delivery (RFD) in the early twentieth centurydramatically increased the frequency with which rural voters receivedinformation. This article examines the effect of RFD on voters' andRepresentatives' behavior using a panel dataset and instrumentalvariables. Communities receiving more routes spread their votes to more parties;there is no evidence it changed turnout. RFD shifted positions taken byRepresentatives in line with rural constituents, including increased support forpro-temperance and anti-immigration policies. These results appear only incounties with newspapers, supporting the hypothesis that information flows playa crucial role in the political process.

“As the whole world has been drawn closer together by theinventions and uses of steam and electricity, so farmers may bedrawn closer together by the universal practice of freedelivery.”

—Matthew Williams of Verndale, Minnesota as quoted in the 1900Yearbook of the United States Department of Agriculture

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Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 76 , Issue 3 , September 2016 , pp. 769 - 802
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 2016 

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Footnotes

We are extremely grateful to Laurent Bouton, Bob Margo, Carola Frydman,Daniele Paserman, Florian Ploeckl, Richard Baker, Claudio Ferraz, DebbieGoldschmidt, Nate Young, Briana Sprick Schuster, Peter Sims, MattBerntsen, Ross Corliss, James Feigenbaum, anonymous referees, andnumerous seminar participants for their helpful ideas, advice, andcomments. All errors are our own.

References

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