Policy Feedback Theory

How do policies, once created, reshape politics, and how might such transformations in turn affect subsequent policymaking? This chapter explores policy feedback theory: the ability of policies—through their design, resources, and implementation—to shape the attitudes and behaviors of political elites and institutions, organized interests, and mass publics with consequences for subsequent policymaking efforts. The chapter begins with a brief overview of the intellectual development of policy feedback theory before describing the four main streams of feedback inquiry and their mechanisms. It then considers new advances in and challenges to the study of policy feedback as well as opportunities for the future development of the field. In particular, it highlights new research that shows how federalism, political polarization, and structural inequality may mitigate feedback effects.