Information Networks and Collective Action: Evidence from the Women's Temperance Crusade
American Economic Review
vol. 112,
no. 1, January 2022
(pp. 41-80)
(Complimentary)
Abstract
How do social interactions shape collective action, and how are they mediated by networked information technologies? We answer these questions studying the Temperance Crusade, a wave of anti-liquor protest activity spreading across 29 states between 1873 and 1874. Relying on exogenous variation in network links generated by railroad accidents, we provide causal evidence of social interactions driving the diffusion of the movement, mediated by rail and telegraph information about neighboring activity. Local newspaper coverage of the crusade was a key channel mediating these effects. Using an event-study methodology, we find strong complementarities between rail and telegraph networks in driving the movement's spread.Citation
García-Jimeno, Camilo, Angel Iglesias, and Pinar Yildirim. 2022. "Information Networks and Collective Action: Evidence from the Women's Temperance Crusade." American Economic Review, 112 (1): 41-80. DOI: 10.1257/aer.20180124Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D83 Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
- J16 Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
- L92 Railroads and Other Surface Transportation
- L96 Telecommunications
- N31 Economic History: Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy: U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913
- N41 Economic History: Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation: U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913
- N71 Economic History: Transport, Trade, Energy, Technology, and Other Services: U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913