Reassessing Policy Drift: Social Policy Change in the United States

Abstract

As formulated by Jacob Hacker, the concept of policy drift turned institutional theories of public policy on their heads by suggesting that consequential policy changes often happen in the absence of reform. Especially prevalent in times of political gridlock or stasis, policy drift is a useful concept for capturing how inaction can gradually diminish the effectiveness of social programmes over time.By highlighting cases of difficult-to-see policy inaction, however, Hacker's concept sets a high bar for empirical scholarship. In this article, we suggest that analyzing policy drift requires attention to comparative policy outcomes, the implementation of reforms intended to alleviate drift, and the time frame of the study. With these insights in mind, we analyze the impact of drift on US retirement security and health care coverage to reflect policy changes that have occurred since Hacker's original analysis was published. IntroductionThe last two decades have seen major shifts in how researchers conceptualize change in the welfare state. Whereas institutional theories once emphasized the resilience of social policy, especially in settings characterized by numerous veto points and political resistance to retrenchment, a now-voluminous literature reveals that policies often evolve outside formal venues -through gradual and often low-profile shifts in their meaning (Béland and Waddan

Evolving polycentric governance of the Great Barrier Reef

“…A typology of regime robustness and change was initially developed from the existing policy and sustainability sciences literature (6,7,12,21,33,34). Polycentric regime development and change then was investigated through a longitudinal case study of the GBR.…”

“…The typology of regime change developed from the existing literature (12,21,33,34) was expanded and verified with interviewee as well as documentary and participant-observation data (Table S2). …”

Policy drift and its reversal: The case of prescription drug coverage in the United States

“…Research has thoroughly examined the conditions for drift and its consequences (Hacker ; Gildiner ; Hacker et al ). However, to date, we lack sufficient theorization of the conditions for its reversal – for breaking the stalemate and adjusting policy to narrow the gap with reality (Béland et al ), inter alia , because drift reversal is rare due to the high status quo bias enabling it in the first place.…”

“…When we think about drift reversal, what usually comes to mind are situations in which actors finally manage to update a policy after much effort; one example is the Affordable Care Act (ACA) (Hacker ; Béland et al ). Yet this is not the only possible scenario because actors favouring the drift can also reverse it.…”

“…A good example of drift is minimum wage policy. When the costs of living rise and the minimum wage is not adjusted accordingly, its impact as a tool designed to protect workers from poverty is eroded (Béland et al ).…”