You’ve Got Mail! The Late 19th Century U.S. Postal Service Expansion, Firm Creation, and Firm Performance
Management Science · 2025 · Astrid Marinoni、Maria P. Roche
中文摘要
本文考察 19 世纪末美国邮政服务扩张对企业创建与绩效的影响。利用新近数字化的加利福尼亚州历史商业机构、邮局位置与道路网络档案数据，本研究发现邮政服务扩张与新企业涌现之间存在正相关关系。为处理内生性问题，我们利用邮政服务路线网络的一次意外变化。研究结果表明，邮政服务通过充当专门知识的载体，而非金融服务或大众传播基础设施，在促进企业进入方面发挥了重要作用。我们进一步揭示，尽管来自新进入者的竞争加剧总体上对在位企业形成下行压力，但那些依赖专门知识与公共技术投入的企业显著受益于当地邮政服务的可及性。综合来看，本研究凸显了邮政服务通过使企业能够从其他地区获取专门知识与技术，在知识扩散与地方经济发展中发挥的关键作用。总体而言，我们的结果有助于更广泛地理解通信与知识传播基础设施如何驱动创业与企业成长，并对当代关于基础设施发展及其激发创业活动、创新和培育地方经济共同体的潜力的讨论具有重要启示。
Abstract
This paper examines the impact of the expansion of the U.S. Postal Service in the late 19th century on firm creation and performance. Utilizing newly digitized archival data on historic business establishments, post office locations, and road networks in California, our study identifies a positive relationship between the expansion of the Postal Service and the emergence of new firms. To address endogeneity concerns, we leverage an unexpected change in the Postal Service route network. Our findings suggest that the Postal Service played a significant role in facilitating firm entry by acting as a carrier of specialized knowledge rather than as a financial service or mass communication infrastructure. We further reveal that, although increased competition from new entrants generally exerted downward pressure on incumbent firms, those relying on specialized knowledge and public technology inputs significantly benefited from local Postal Service access. Taken together, our study underscores the critical role played by the Postal Service in knowledge diffusion and local economic development by enabling the sourcing of specialized knowledge and technologies from other geographies. Overall, our results contribute to a broader understanding of how communication and knowledge dissemination infrastructure can drive entrepreneurship and firm growth, carrying important implications for contemporary discussions on infrastructure development, its potential to stimulate entrepreneurial activity, innovation, and foster local economic communities.