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This article asks why parties change their policy positions, focusing upon the evolution of Democratic Party tax policy in the US from the mid-1950s to the late 1960s. It assesses the ability of two models to explain policy change. The external model posits that party tax policy changes in response to external influences, including the economy and public opinion, while the internal model holds that policy changes for internal reasons, including the adoption of an economic theory, such as Keynesianism, by party elites. The results indicate that party tax policy most often responded to the external influence of the economy during the years under study. Contrary to democratic theory, the research concludes that public opinion failed to drive policy change. Instead, following many recent studies, the evidence suggests that party elites led changes in public opinion on taxes.

In this paper we analyze the two conventional explanations of the Republican Party's adoption of supply-side economic philosophy in the 1977-81 period: first, that the position change was induced by the Sunbelt component of the party; and second, that the doctrinal shift was brought about by widespread concern with tax policy among the public and the Republican mass in particular. We reveal both arguments to be flawed and suggest that the party's advocation of large across-the-board tax cuts was the result of calculated and coordinated decisions by Washington elites within the party. We provide empirical and theoretical justification for a national elite-led explanation of this event. As a result, our study helps solidify contemporary scholarship that counteracts conventional wisdom in comparative politics and suggests that national American parties, at least when it comes to policy formation, can be relatively hierarchical institutions that shape as much as respond to mass and local behavior.

In this paper, we analyze the two conventional explanations of the Republican Party's adoption of supply-side economic philosophy in the 1977-1981 period: first, that the position change was induced by the Sunbelt component of the party; & second, that the doctrinal shift was brought about by widespread concern with tax policy among the public & the Republican mass in particular. We reveal both arguments to be flawed & suggest that the party's advocation of large across-the-board tax cuts was the result of calculated & coordinated decisions by Washington elites within the party. We provide empirical & theoretical justification for a national elite-led explanation of this event. As a result, our study helps solidify contemporary scholarship that counteracts conventional wisdom in comparative politics & suggests that national American parties, at least when it comes to policy formation, can be relatively hierarchical institutions that shape as much as respond to mass & local behavior. 3 Tables, 1 Figure, 49 References. Adapted from the source document.