In previous research on economic policy in Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States, from the early 1970s to the mid-1980s, the author found that the primary determinant of economic policies and their outcomes appeared to be powerful organized interest groups, with differences in governmental institutions having little apparent impact. The ideologies of Thatcherism and Reaganism contributed to the reduction of the role of government and established conservative agendas, but left their postwar welfare state programs intact. This study of economic policymaking in the three countries since the mid-1980s confirms the ‘new institutionalist’ position in political science that institutions—government organizations, political parties, and electoral systems—do matter. Interest groups are also crucial, but they are not as determinative as previously argued. Ideology can be critical, but the influence of ideology is neither pervasive nor continuous. Strong, forceful, goal-directed leadership can also play a vital role.
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