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Delivering the Vote: The Political Effect of Free Mail Delivery in Early 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 century dramatically increased the frequency with which rural voters received information. This article examines the effect of RFD on voters' and Representatives' behavior using a panel dataset and instrumental variables. Communities receiving more routes spread their votes to more parties; there is no evidence it changed turnout. RFD shifted positions taken by Representatives in line with rural constituents, including increased support for pro-temperance and anti-immigration policies. These results appear only in counties with newspapers, supporting the hypothesis that information flows play a crucial role in the political process.

“As the whole world has been drawn closer together by the inventions and uses of steam and electricity, so farmers may be drawn closer together by the universal practice of free delivery.”

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

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, Debbie Goldschmidt, Nate Young, Briana Sprick Schuster, Peter Sims, Matt Berntsen, Ross Corliss, James Feigenbaum, anonymous referees, and numerous seminar participants for their helpful ideas, advice, and comments. All errors are our own.

References

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