The impact of rail development on press diffusion and vote in France during the Third Republic (1870-1940)

Alban de Gmeline
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Alban de Gmeline: University of Cambridge

No 41, Working Papers from Department of Economic and Social History at the University of Cambridge

Abstract: What was the impact of rail development on electoral behaviour in France? This paper quantifies the impact of the opening of stations on voting in the 1902 election. It distinguishes the specific effect linked to the opening of a news agent in stations. The analysis is based on a new dataset from the archives of Hachette who had a monopoly on these news agents in French railway stations. These selling points account for 2.64% of the 42.46% of votes obtained by the left-wing alliance in 1902. A political bias of Hachette may partly explain this effect. These results underscore the importance of transport infrastructure and information access in shaping political behaviors.

JEL-codes: D72 N73 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-03-09, Revised 2025-03-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cdm, nep-his, nep-pol and nep-tre
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Published in Cambridge Working Paper in Economic & Social History, No. 41

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