Will technological progress improve the capabilities of the country? Throughout history, new technologies such as printing presses, telegraphs, and automobiles have transformed culture, society, and the economy. But has the new technology changed the country itself? This article believes the answer is yes. Because new technologies generally allow countries to do things they couldn’t do before and strengthen their capabilities compared to other institutions, organizations, and interest groups. Using new claims about the relationship between technology and national capacity and detailed data from Sweden, how the major innovation railroads of the First Industrial Revolution affected one of the defined societies of the 19th century. We conducted an empirical analysis through the accreditation of supervisors of educational institutions, primary schools, and national schools.

Innovation, Development, and National Capacity

Historians, political scientists, sociologists, and economists have long believed that the advent of railroads had important cultural, social, and economic implications for the world of the 19th century. However, there are few empirical studies on the direct impact of railroads on the country. More specifically, there are few empirical studies on how civil servants perform their duties (in fact, there are few empirical studies on the relationship between innovation and development, and national capacity). For example, Eugen Weber’s Peasants into Frenchmen (1976) is the main source of inspiration for our work. There’s a lot to say to the French railway and French school directors, but they have little effect on either. That is, it does not indicate whether rail transport availability will make school inspections more efficient.

The combination of detailed data on the provision of primary education in different parts of Sweden in 1868 with geographic information system data on the location of each station and the home address of each Swedish school supervisor for the year were used in a study. This study design allows us to understand the relationship between railroads and national capabilities. In other words, it is the ability of civil servants to implement government policies. By controlling many important confounding factors and relying on data that can very accurately explain the travel options of each school supervisor, we support the causal explanation of the findings.

There are pieces of evidence that show that the development of the Swedish rail network allows school supervisors to oversee schools more effectively and strengthen the implementation of national school policies. State and local governments are separated regarding the provision of public education. This is because the central government wants local governments to pay for permanent public schools, while local governments prefer cheap mobile schools. The content of the course is also different because the 19th century national and local conflicts are also among the state religion conflicts. Geography and history, the main hope of local ministers is for children to learn Lutheran catechism. If school supervisors can reach remote schools by train, it indicates that the proportion of permanent schools in the school district is much higher than if school supervisors rely on other modes of transportation. I am. The ratio of geography to history is also higher for courses that can reach remote schools by train. The explanation behind this discovery is less certain than the discovery of a permanent school, but our results show that at least railroads are also affecting school education.

Today, more than ever, we have seen the importance of trains and railways in our day-to-day living. Railways connect people, education, and economies from various parts of the country. People search timetable information (fahrplanauskunft) to travel for business, leisure, and to pursue their dreams.

Therefore, we believe that railroads have a direct and positive impact on the capabilities of the Central State, in addition to the indirect impacts created by cultural and socio-economic modernization. This argument has important implications for the theory of national capacity, education, and the development of comparative politics.