Interest Groups, Democracy, and Policy Volatility
Contemporary Economic Policy. April 2016, 34(2): 223-233.
25 Pages Posted: 3 Jun 2015 Last revised: 28 Jul 2023
Date Written: June 1, 2015
Abstract
Democratic polities appear to produce more stable policy than do autocracies. In this paper, we explore a potential source of the policy stability observed in democracies: special-interest groups. We find that interest groups are associated with greater stability in some measures of policy and that groups mediate the stabilizing impact of democracy on policy. We also find that the impact of interest groups on policy volatility depends on the degree of polarization in a society.
Keywords: special-interest groups; policy volatility; democracy
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