How Do the Rich Rule? Public Opinion, Parties, and Interest Groups in Unequal Policy Influence

Professor Matthew Grossmann will examine the mechanisms by which high-income citizens influence policymaking. What are the routes through which high-income citizens and particular groups come to influence policy adoption? Why do public policy choices follow the opinions of the more affluent rather than the broader public? And through what channels are the opinions of the affluent translated into legislative and executive actions?

Grossmann will study the ways in which the Democratic and Republican parties, along with liberal and conservative advocacy groups and business lobbies, provide distinct routes for the influence of high-income citizens’ opinions on policy adoption. Grossmann hypothesizes that there are three indirect routes to rich citizens’ greater influence on policy: (1) blocking economically-liberal policies through Republican and business opposition, (2) influencing social policy adoption through the positions of advocacy groups and Democrats, and (3) achieving lower-salience policy changes through business support and lack of partisan opposition.