Civil Service Exams and Organizational Performance: Evidence from the Pendleton Act

We thank Luiza Aires, Lisa Pacheco and Mario Remígio for outstanding research assistance, and Enrique Pérez for help with data collection. We have benefited from the comments of Oriana Bandiera, Brian Beach, Assaf Bernstein, Sandra Black, Nicolás Caramp, Katherine Eriksson, James Feigenbaum, Fred Finan, Robert Gibbons, Michela Giorcelli, Walker Hanlon, Daniel Honig, Rick Hornbeck, Chris Meissner, Andrea Pozas-Loyo, Sarah Quincy, Arman Rezaee, Monica Singhal, Michael Ting, Martin Williams, Chenzi Xu and Noam Yutchmann, as well by seminar participants at Corporación Andina de Fomento, CEPR STEG Workshop, Cornell University, University of California - Riverside, NEUDC, NBER Organizational Economics Fall 2020 Conference, Columbia University, University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy, NYU, and Stanford CASBS. We also benefited from funding from the UC Davis Small Grant in Aid of Research, the Michael Dearing Fellowship in support of Economic History Research, and the Hellman Fellowship program. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research.

• April 8, 2021