Postal Growth: How the State-Sponsored Post Affected Growth in Preindustrial France, 1500–1850

This paper investigates the role of postal service in city growth in pre-industrial France. Extant research shows that modern-day state-funded infrastructure projects, such as railways, predict growth. I examine the consequences of the post when the pace of expansion was slow and technological innovations were few. I highlight how the French post evolved from the crown- only information tool to a public service and how investments on the physical infrastructure lagged behind. Digitizing untapped published sources, I construct market access via postal routes on the city level from 1500–1850. My analysis finds that it is strongly negatively as- sociated with growth. It also highlights how the proximity to rivers matters to growth, while more geographically-bounded interactions are not impactful. My instrumental-variable esti- mation points to how post-Roman political consolidation in Gaul misaligned the subsequent urban networks from contemporary perspectives, leaving an ill-conceived design on which the French post was built.