A research was published in 2014 that concludes that the United States is being run by an economic elite.  And you thought it was a democracy.

Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens by Martin Gilens and Benjamin I. Page

Where you can read and download this research paper:  https://www.princeton.edu/~mgilens/Gilens%20homepage%20materials/Gilens%20and%20Page/Gilens%20and%20Page%202014-Testing%20Theories%203-7-14.pdf