image: The growth of the US Postal Service by 1890. The image shows a map of the United States' more than 3,000 counties (excluding Alaska and Hawaii). Counties are colored based on the number of post offices present as of 1890. view more
Credit: Image credit: Adam Ramey.
Researchers report that the rapid expansion of the US postal network in the 19th century supported the growth of societal norms and cooperation. Social capital refers to the shared attitudes, relationships, and norms that foster cooperation and collective action in a society. Jeffrey Jensen and Adam Ramey explored how formal state investment shapes the development of social capital by studying the effect of the expansion of the US postal network on a growing and sparsely populated country. The authors calculated the number of post offices per capita from 1800 to 1890. Next, the authors compared the results with county-level social capital, noting that church and association membership, petition signatures, presence of local newspapers, and presidential election turnout increased during this period. The number of post offices in 1890 also predicted contemporary social capital; the number of post offices in 1890 was positively associated with the number of social and nonprofit organizations and negatively associated with arrests and mortality. Further, the expansion of the postal network predicted the location of local newspapers, which likely explain the continued effect of state investment on social capital. According to the authors, the ongoing decline in local newspapers is likely to have a negative and spatially uneven effect on social capital.
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ARTICLE #19-19972: "Early investments in state capacity promote persistently higher levels of social capital," by Jeffrey L. Jensen and Adam J. Ramey.
MEDIA CONTACT: Adam Ramey, New York University Abu Dhabi, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES; e-mail: adam.ramey@nyu.edu
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences