Is Representation retroactive?

In Civ V, one of the last social policies in Liberty is Representation, which reduces cities' impact on social policies by 33%. Is this retroactive though? Does it apply to cities founded before taking the policy or only ones after? What about in regards to policies? Does it refund the culture from earlier policies?

Solution 1:

Representation does not refund culture points from earlier policies. The way it works is as quoted:

When you adopt the policy, it reduces the cost of future policies for ALL your cities, including ones that are already built by the time you adopt the policy.

It does not reduce the costs of policies that you have already adopted. Therefore, if the reduction in cost would have allowed you to adopt an extra policy (if you had adopted Representation earlier in the game), you will not get an extra policy for free.

Representation applies to cities founded after taking the policy and does not apply to the ones before as mentioned beforehand, in other words the earlier you get the policy, the better it is for you!

If you want to know more about it, here's a link to a forum discussion regarding Representation in Civ V

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=414366