The Affordable Care Act and Mass Policy Feedbacks

Abstract

AbstractThe Affordable Care Act (ACA) has allowed researchers to examine mass policy feedback effects—how public policies affect individuals' attitudes and political behaviors—in real time while using causal models. These efforts help address criticisms of the extant feedbacks literature and have revealed new policy feedback effects and new information on the conditions under which policy feedbacks occur. The ACA case also raises empirical and theoretical questions about the types of data needed to assess feedback effects, the magnitude of policy effects required for detection, the time frame in which feedbacks occur, and the suitability of various empirical approaches for assessing policy feedback effects. Thus, the ACA not only adds an important empirical case to the study of policy feedbacks but also helps refine policy feedback theory.