State Capacity and the Post Office: Evidence from 19th Century Quebec

Social capital has been shown to positively influence a multitude of economic, political, and social outcomes. Yet the factors that affect long-run social capital formation remain poorly understood. Recent evidence suggests that early state formation, especially investments in state capacity, are positively associated with higher levels of contemporary social capital and other prosocial attitudes. The channels by which early state capacity leads to greater social capital over time are even less understood. We contribute to both questions using the spatial and temporal expansion of the US postal network during the 19th century. We first show that county-level variation in post office density is highly correlated with a bevy of historical and contemporary indicators of social capital (e.g., associational memberships, civic participation, health, and crime). This finding holds even when controlling for historical measures of development and contemporary measures of income, inequality, poverty, education, and race. Second, we provide evidence of an informational mechanism by which this early investment in infrastructural capacity affected long-run social capital formation. Namely, we demonstrate that the expansion of the postal network in the 19th century strongly predicts the historical and contemporary location of local newspapers, which were the primary mode of impersonal information transmission during this period. Our evidence sheds light on the role of the state in both the origins of social capital and the channels by which it persists. Our findings also suggest that the consequences of the ongoing decline in local newspapers will negatively affect social capital.

Download Full-text

State Capacity and American Technology: Evidence from the 19th Century

10.3386/w21932 ◽

2016 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Daron Acemoglu ◽

Jacob Moscona ◽

James Robinson

Keyword(s):

19Th Century ◽

State Capacity ◽

The 19Th Century

Download Full-text

SABERES IMPRESSOS, CORRESPONDáŠNCIAS E EXPEDIÇÕES CIENTáFICAS: a capitania do Maranhão e o Reformismo Ilustrado na virada para o Oitocentos

Outros Tempos – Pesquisa em Foco - História ◽

10.18817/ot.v11i18.417 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 11 (18) ◽

Author(s):

MARCELO CHECHE GALVES

Keyword(s):

19Th Century ◽

Scientific Knowledge ◽

Knowledge Diffusion ◽

Post Office ◽

Palabras Clave ◽

Starting Point ◽

State Secretary

O artigo toma como ponto de partida a venda de impressos na Casa do Correio da cidade de São Luás do Maranhão, entre os anos de 1799 e 1801, inserindo-a nas diretrizes da polática portuguesa de difusão dos conhecimentos cientáficos por intermédio da impressão, venda e distribuição de impressos. Tal polática, sob o comando de D. Rodrigo de Sousa Coutinho, secretário de Estado da Marinha e Ultramar, contou com a decisiva atuação do frei José Mariano da Conceição Veloso, responsável pela tradução e impressão de grande número de obras: Veloso dirigiu a Casa Literária do Arco do Cego entre 1799 e 1801. Considero também os impressos que circularam fora da órbita do Arco do Cego, e que chegaram á capitania do Maranhão após serem submetidos ao crivo da Real Mesa Censória. Por fim, articulo esse conjunto de impressos á s correspondências trocadas entre o governador da capitania, Diogo de Sousa, e o secretário Coutinho, cujos temas se pautavam na questão do conhecimento cientáfico e nas múltiplas formas de desenvolvimento das potencialidades da capitania. Como exemplo-sántese dessas preocupações, analiso o contexto de organização e desenvolvimento da expedição cientáfica chefiada por Vicente Jorge Dias Cabral e pelo padre Joaquim José Pereira, que explorou a capitania entre os anos de 1799 e 1802. Palavras-chave: Maranhão. Reformismo Ilustrado. Impressos. Correspondências. Expedições Cientáficas. PRINTED KNOWLEDGE, CORRESPONDENCE AND SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITIONS: the Maranhão captainship and the Erudite Reformism in 19th century. Abstract: This text takes as starting point the sale of printed papers in São Luás”™ city post office between 1799 and 1801, inserting it in the Portuguese guidelines for politic of scientific knowledge diffusion trough distribution printing, sale and distribution of printed material. Such politic, under command of D. Rodrigo de Sousa Coutinho, State secretary of Navy and Overseas, counted with the decisive participation Friar José Mariano da Conceição Veloso, responsible for translations and printing of large amount of works: Veloso directed the Casa Literária do Arco do Cego between 1799 and 1801. I also consider the printed material that circulated out of Arco do Cego”™s frame and arrived at Maranhão captainship after approved by the Royal Censorial Table. At last, I articulate this group of printed material to the correspondences exchanged between the captainship governor Diogo de Sousa and the secretary Coutinho, which versed around the issues of scientific knowledge and the multiple ways of development of captainship potency. As example of these matters I analyze the context of organization and development of the scientific expedition guided by Vicente Jorge Dias Cabral and the priest Joaquim José Pereira, who explored the captainship between 1799 and 1802. Keywords: Maranhão. Erudite Reformism. Printed material .Correspondences. Scientific Expeditions. SABERES IMPRESOS, CORRESPONDENCIAS Y EXPEDICIONES CIENTáFICAS: la capitanáa del Maranhão y el Reformismo ilustrado en el pasaje para el ochocientos Resumen: El articulo presenta como eje de partida la venda de impresos en la Casa de Correos de la ciudad de São Luis, Maranhão, entre los años de 1799 y 1801, incluyendo venda y distribución de impresos en las directrices de la polática portuguesa de difusión de los conocimientos cientáficos por intermedio de la impresión . Esta polática, bajo el comando de D Rodrigo de Sousa Coutinho, secretario de Estado de Marinha e Ultramar, se fortaleció con la decisiva actuación del Frey José Mariano de Conceição Veloso, responsable por la traducción e impreso de gran número de obras: Veloso coordinó la Casa Literaria do Arco do Cego entre 1799 y 1801. Consideramos también los impresos que circularon externamente a Casa Literaria y que llegaron a la capitanáa de Maranhão, tras la sumisión de la Real Mesa Censoria. En este artáculo, es discutido el conjunto de impresos a las correspondencias tejidas entre el gobernador de la capitania, Diogo de Sousa y el secretario Coutinho, cuyos temas se apoyaban en la cuestión del conocimiento cientáfico y en las múltiples formas de desarrollo de las potencialidades de la capitanáa. Como ejemplo sántesis de estas problematizaciones, se analiza el contexto de organización y desarrollo de la expedición cientáfica comandada por Vicente Jorge Dáas Cabral y por el Padre Joaquim José Pereira que explotó la capitanáa entre los años de 1799 y 1802. Palabras clave: Maranhão. Reformismo Ilustrado. Impreso. Correspondencias. Expediciones cientáficas.

Download Full-text