Dynamic Responsiveness of Invisible Policy: The Importance of Outcomes

• In Event: Policymaking and Responsiveness in States and Localities

Abstract

Responsiveness is known to be dynamic when the policy process is visible to the public---public opinion affects policy, which feeds back on opinion. It is unclear what happens to this dynamic when policy is obscured. There is reason to doubt that the public can react to policy it cannot see and hold government accountable, which calls into question how substantively meaningful responsiveness is in such cases. I propose a dynamic responsiveness model that incorporates outcomes and applies to settings in which policy is invisible. My analysis compares air pollution in polities with low policy visibility (319 American localities) to those with higher visibility (50 states) from 2007--2016. I find that when policy is invisible, the public reacts directly to outcomes---not policy itself---and that responsiveness yields substantively meaningful outcomes. This suggests dynamic responsiveness exists so long as either policy or its outcomes are discernible to the public.

Author

• Ross Buchanan, University of Texas, Austin