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

Abstract

NBER working papers are circulated for discussion and comment purposes. They have not been peer-reviewed or been subject to the review by the NBER Board of Directors that accompanies official NBER publications.

Who Benefits from Meritocracy?

“…In this case, our effects could stem from changes in the control group rather than by changes in the characteristics of exam-appointed employees. Indeed, in Moreira & Pérez (2021) we document such a response in the context of the classified Customs Service: requiring that employees making $900 or more a year were hired through exams led to a near doubling in the share of workers making less than this cutoff.…”

“…Finally, we contribute to the literature on the effects of civil service exams. Inspired by a tradition that emphasizes the importance of selecting the most competent workers (Weber, 2019), a number of papers in this literature have studied the extent to which exams improve bureaucrats' qualifications and organizational performance (Ornaghi, 2016;Xu, 2018;Estrada, 2019;Moreira & Pérez, 2021). 16 By contrast, and motivated by the evidence on the importance of representation in public organizations (Kingsley, 1944;Neggers, 2018;Alsan et al, 2019;Xu, 2020), we study their effects on the social composition of the bureaucracy.…”

“…There is a long-standing debate on the equity implications of job testing (and of standardized tests more generally), see, for instance, Cronbach (1975) and the discussion in Autor & Scarborough (2008). 16 In a recent paper, we investigate the consequences of the Pendleton act for the functioning of the US Customs Service (Moreira & Pérez, 2021). We deviate from Moreira & Pérez (2021) with respect to research question, data, and empirical strategy.…”

“…16 In a recent paper, we investigate the consequences of the Pendleton act for the functioning of the US Customs Service (Moreira & Pérez, 2021). We deviate from Moreira & Pérez (2021) with respect to research question, data, and empirical strategy. First, while Moreira & Pérez (2021) studies the consequences of the reform for the efficiency of the US Customs Service, we focus on how the reform affected the social origins of civil servants across the Federal administration.…”

“…We deviate from Moreira & Pérez (2021) with respect to research question, data, and empirical strategy. First, while Moreira & Pérez (2021) studies the consequences of the reform for the efficiency of the US Customs Service, we focus on how the reform affected the social origins of civil servants across the Federal administration. To do so, we digitize personnel records spanning every executive Department in DC (rather than just the Customs Service), and collect information on employees' parental wealth and occupations by linking these records to population censuses.…”