Strengthening State Capacity: Civil Service Reform and Public Sector Performance during the Gilded Age
利用美国邮政局新数字化记录，研究1875-1901年间《彭德尔顿法案》实施对公务员系统的影响，发现改革减少了邮政投递错误并提高了生产率，尤其在选举年效果更显著。
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.