"Representative government and representation." . . "United States." . . . . "USA." . . "Politisk planlægning" . . "USA" . . "Equality." . . . . . . . "Can a country be a democracy if its government only responds to the preferences of the rich? In an ideal democracy, all citizens should have equal influence on government policy, but as this book demonstrates, America's policymakers respond almost exclusively to the preferences of the economically advantaged. Affluence and Influence definitively explores how political inequality in the United States has evolved over the last several decades and how this growing disparity has been shaped by interest groups, parties, and elections. With sharp analysis and a wide range of data, the author looks at thousands of proposed policy changes, and the degree of support for each among poor, middle-class, and affluent Americans. His findings are staggering: when preferences of low- or middle-income Americans diverge from those of the affluent, there is virtually no relationship between policy outcomes and the desires of less advantaged groups. In contrast, affluent Americans' preferences exhibit a substantial relationship with policy outcomes whether their preferences are shared by lower-income groups or not. The author shows that representational inequality is spread widely across different policy domains and time periods. Yet he also shows that under specific circumstances the preferences of the middle class and, to a lesser extent, the poor, do seem to matter. In particular, impending elections, especially presidential elections, and an even partisan division in Congress mitigate representational inequality and boost responsiveness to the preferences of the broader public. At a time when economic and political inequality in the United States only continues to rise, this book raises important questions about whether American democracy is truly responding to the needs of all its citizens." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . "Affluence and influence economic inequality and political power in America"@en . "Affluence and influence economic inequality and political power in America" . . . . . . . . . . . . "Can a country be a democracy if its government only responds to the preferences of the rich? In an ideal democracy, all citizens should have equal influence on government policy--but as this book demonstrates, America's policymakers respond almost exclusively to the preferences of the economically advantaged. Affluence and Influence definitively explores how political inequality in the United States has evolved over the last several decades and how this growing disparity has been shaped by interest groups, parties, and elections. With sharp analysis and an impressive range of."@en . . . . . "Affluence & influence" . "Electronic books"@en . . . . . . . . . "Affluence and influence : economic inequality and political power in America"@en . "Affluence and influence : economic inequality and political power in America" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . "Toma de decisiones Estados Unidos" . . "Repräsentation (Politik)" . . "Verenigde Staten van Amerika" . . "Gouvernement représentatif États-Unis." . . "Igualdad Estados Unidos" . . "Representative government and representation United States." . . "Einkommensunterschied." . . "Stati Uniti d'America - Politica." . . "Rappresentanza politica - Stati Uniti d'America." . . "Political planning United States." . . "Inégalité sociale États-Unis." . . "Social ulighed" . . "Politische Entscheidung." . . "Decision making." . . "Einflussnahme." . . "Égalité (Sociologie) États-Unis." . . "Égalité États-Unis." . . "Gobierno representativo Estados Unidos" . . "Økonomiske forhold" . . "Pressure groups United States." . . "Soziale Ungleichheit." . . "Russell Sage Foundation." . . "POLITICAL SCIENCE Public Policy General." . . "POLITICAL SCIENCE American Government General." . . "Repräsentation." . . "Grupos de presión Estados Unidos" . . "Prise de décision États-Unis." . . "Equality United States." . . "Decision making United States." . . "Politique publique États-Unis." . . "Pressure groups." . . "Lobbyismus." . . "Oberschicht." . . "Planificación política Estados Unidos" . . "Groupes de pression États-Unis." . . "Political planning." . .