Information Networks and Collective Action: Evidence from the Women’s Temperance Crusade

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 1874. Relying on exogenous variation in network links generated railroad accidents, we provide causal evidence driving diffusion movement, rail telegraph about neighboring activity. Local newspaper coverage crusade was key channel mediating effects. Using an event-study methodology, find strong complementarities networks movement’s spread. (JEL D83, J16, L92, L96, N31, N41, N71)