Research
Books
[2] Nicholas Carnes. 2018. The Cash Ceiling: Why Only the Rich Run for Office--and What We Can Do About It, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. [purchase]
[1] Nicholas Carnes. 2013. White-Collar Government: The Hidden Role of Class in Economic Policy Making, Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press. [purchase] [online appendix] [corrected Table 2.2] [CLASS Dataset]Reviews: Perspectives on Politics, Political Science Quarterly, American Review of Politics, Publishers Weekly
Related Media: Vox, The Guardian, CBC/Radio Canada, WRAL/NC Policy Watch, NBC, Washington Post/Monkey Cage, Ottawa Citizen
Awards: Harold D. Laswell Award, Carl Albert Award, Alan Rosenthal Prize, Gladys M. Kammerer Award
Reviews: Huffington Post, Sunlight Foundation, Congress and the Presidency, Boston Review
Related Media: New York Times, C-SPAN, CNN NPR, Vox, MSNBC, Huffington Post, Marketplace, The Atlantic, Pacific Standard, Daily Kos, Monkey Cage, BBC, Talking Points Memo, Salon, Boston Globe, Oakland Tribune, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Chicago Magazine, Bangor Daily News, Detroit Free Press, Newark Star-Ledger, Maine Free Press, WUNC, The Diplomat, No Jargon
Edited Volume
[1] Nicholas Carnes and Lilly J. Goren, eds. 2022. The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Lawrence, KS: The University Press of Kansas. [purchase]
Related Media: Washington Post
Articles
[16] Larry M. Bartels and Nicholas Carnes. 2023. "House Republicans were Rewarded for Supporting Donald Trump's 'Stop the Steal' Efforts." The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 120(34): e2309072120. [paper] [replication materials]
[15] Nicholas Carnes and Noam Lupu. 2023. "The Economic Backgrounds of Politicians." Annual Review of Political Science 26: 253-270. [paper]
[14] David E. Broockman, Nicholas Carnes, Melody Crowder-Meyer, and Christopher Skovron. 2021. "Having Their Cake and Eating It, Too: Why Local Party Leaders Don't Support Nominating Centrists." British Journal of Poltical Science 51(2): 724-749. [paper]
[13] Nicholas Carnes and Noam Lupu. 2021. "The White Working Class and the 2016 Election." Perspectives on Politics 19(1): 55-72. [paper] [appendix] [replication]
Related Media: 538 Politics Podcast (at 32 minutes in)
[12] Eric Hansen, Nicholas Carnes, and Virginia Gray. 2019. "What Happens When Insurers Make the Insurance Laws? State Legislative Agendas and the Occupational Makeup of Government." State Politics and Policy Quarterly 19(2): 155-179. [paper]
Related Media: LSE US Centre
[11] Nicholas Carnes and John Holbein. 2019. "Do Public Officials Exhibit Social Class Biases when they Handle Casework? Evidence from Multiple Correspondence Experiments." PLOS ONE 14(3): e0214244. [paper]
Related Media: Scholars Strategy Network
[10] Nicholas Carnes and Noam Lupu. 2016."Do Voters Dislike Working-Class Candidates? Voter Biases and the Descriptive Underrepresentation of the Working Class." American Political Science Review 110(4): 832-844. [paper] [appendix] [data] [code]
Related Media: Monkey Cage, Democratic Audit
[9] Nicholas Carnes and Eric Hansen. 2016. "Does Paying Politicians More Promote Economic Diversity in Legislatures?" American Political Science Review 110(4): 699-716. [paper]
Related Media: Scholars Strategy Network, The State, WUNC, Pacific Standard, News and Observer, Duke Chronicle, Carolina Journal, Las Vegas Sun, KCUR
[8] Nicholas Carnes and Noam Lupu. 2016. "What Good is a College Degree? Education and Leader Quality Reconsidered." Journal of Politics 78(1): 35-49. [paper] [online appendix] [data] [code]
Related Media: New York Times, Politico, MSNBC, Chronicle of Higher Education
[7] Nicholas Carnes. 2016. "Why Are There So Few Working-class People in Political Office? Evidence from State Legislatures." Politics, Groups, and Identities 4(1): 84-109.
[paper]
[6] Marc F. Bellemare and Nicholas Carnes. 2015. "Why Do Members of Congress Support Agricultural Protection?" Food Policy 50: 20-34. [paper] [replication materials]
Related Media: WonkBlog, The Globe and Mail, Medium
[5] Nicholas Carnes and Meredith L. Sadin. 2015. "The 'Mill Worker's Son' Heuristic: How Voters Perceive Politicians from Working-class Families--and How They Really Behave in Office." Journal of Politics 77(1): 285-298. [paper]
Related Media: The New York Times, Bloomberg News, Pacific Standard
[4] Nicholas Carnes. 2015. "Does the Descriptive Representation of the Working Class 'Crowd Out' Women and Minorities (And Vice Versa)? Evidence from the Local Elections in America Project." Politics, Groups, and Identities 3(2): 350-365. [paper]
Related Media: Salon.com
[3] Nicholas Carnes and Noam Lupu. 2015. "Rethinking the Comparative Perspective on Class and Representation: Evidence from Latin America." American Journal of Political Science 59(1): 1-18. [paper] [supporting information] [replication data] [code]
Winner of the Sage Award
Related Media: MonkeyCage, Scholars Strategy Network, Excelsior, La Vanguardia, Condistintosacentos
[2] R. Douglas Arnold and Nicholas Carnes. 2012. "Holding Mayors Accountable: New York's Executives from Koch to Bloomberg." American Journal of Political Science 56(4): 949-963. [paper] [supporting information] [replication data]
Related Media: MonkeyCage
[1] Nicholas Carnes. 2012. "Does the Numerical Underrepresentation of the Working Class in Congress Matter?" Legislative Studies Quarterly 37(1): 5-34. [paper]
Related Media: FiveThirtyEight, WonkBlog, Al Jazeera America, Congressional Research Service
[8] Nicholas Carnes and Noam Lupu. Forthcoming. "Working-Class Officeholding in the OECD." In Unequal Democracies: Public Policy, Responsiveness, and Redistribution in an Era of Rising Economic Inequality, eds. Noam Lupu and Jonas Pontusson. New York: Cambridge University Press.
[7] Nicholas Carnes. 2023. "Inequality, or Invisibility and Inaccuracy? How Local Newspapers Cover the Occupational Backgrounds of Members of Congress." In Accountability Reconsidered: Voters, Interests, and Information in US Policymaking, eds. Charles M. Cameron, Brandice Canes-Wrone, Sanford C. Gordon, and Gregory A. Huber. New York: Cambridge University Press.
[6] Nicholas Carnes. 2022. "Government as the Bad Guy?" In The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, eds. Nicholas Carnes and Lilly J. Goren. Lawrence, KS: The University Press of Kansas.
[5] Nicholas Carnes and Lilly J. Goren. 2022. "An Introduction to the Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe." In The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, eds. Nicholas Carnes and Lilly J. Goren. Lawrence, KS: The University Press of Kansas.
[4] Nicholas Carnes and Noam Lupu. 2022. "What Do Voters Think About the Descriptive Underrepresentation of the Working Class?" In Contested Representation: Challenges, Shortcomings and Reforms, eds. Claudia Landwehr, Thomas Saalfeld, and Armin Schäfer. New York: Cambridge University Press. [paper] [appendix] [replication]
[3] Nicholas Carnes. 2017. "Adam Smith Would Be Spinning in His Grave: Government by the Rich in the United States." In Myths and Realities of Social Class in American Politics, eds. Daniel DiSalvo and Jeffrey Stonecash. The Forum 15(1): 151-165.
[2] Nicholas Carnes. 2016. "Who Votes for Inequality?" In Congress and Policymaking in the 21st Century, eds. Eric Patashnik and Jeff Jenkins. New York: Cambridge University Press. [paper]
[1] Nicholas Carnes. 2015. "White-Collar Government in the United States." In Debate: Does Descriptive Misrepresentation by Income and Class Matter?, Swiss Political Science Review 21(2): 213-221. [paper]
Under Review
[2] Nicholas Carnes, Joshua Ferrer, Miriam Golden, Esme Lillywhite, Noam Lupu, and Eugenia Nazrullaeva. "The Global Legislators Database: The Personal Backgrounds of National Legislators in the World's Democracies." [paper]
[1] Nicholas Carnes and Noam Lupu. "Are There Social Class Gaps in Nascent Political Ambition? Survey Evidence from the Americas." [paper]
In Preparation[3] Nicholas Carnes and Geoffrey Henderson. "Getting the Message on Climate: Attention as a Key Obstacle to Translating Survey-Experimental Findings into Real-World Impacts."
[2] Nicholas Carnes. "Has Research on Working-Class Politicians Excluded Women? A Response to Barnes, Beall, and Holman." [paper]
[1] Nicholas Carnes. "'A Great Opportunity for America's Wealthiest Undergrads'? Reform Narratives About Affluent Staffers and the 2017 Congressional Capacity Survey." [paper]
Inactive Papers[2] Nicholas Carnes. "Rage Within the Machine? Political Cynicism Among Candidates and Party Leaders." [paper]
[1] Nicholas Carnes. "From the Fieldhouse to the Statehouse: How College Sports (Scandals) Affect Public Funding for Higher Education." [paper]
Op-Eds, Memos, Reviews, and Other Short Pieces
[32] Bethany Lacina, Nicholas Carnes, and Lilly J. Goren. 2022. "Is 'Wakanda Forever' too 'Woke' for Marvel's Own Good?" The Washington Post, November 11.
[31] Nicholas Carnes and Noam Lupu. 2021. "Trump Didn't Bring White Working-class Voters to the Republican Party. The Data Suggests He Kept Them Away." The Washington Post, April 14.
[30] Nicholas Carnes. 2019. "Here's How to Help People Who Have Kids and aren't Rich Run for Congress." The Washington Post, March 7.
[29] Nicholas Carnes. 2019. "The Historic 'Help America Run Act' is Evidence-based Policy." Memo Prepared for U.S. House of Representatives Committee on House Administration, February 12.
[28] Nicholas Carnes. 2018. Working-class people are Underrepresented in Politics. The Problem isn't Voters," Vox, October 24.
[27] Nicholas Carnes. 2018. "Why are So Few US Politicians from the Working Class?," The Guardian, October 4.
[26] Nicholas Carnes. 2017. Review of American Amnesia: How the War on Government Led Us to Forget What Made America Prosper by Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson. Journal of Politics 79(4): e89-e90.
[25] Nicholas Carnes. 2017. "What Would Adam Smith Think about this Trump Tax Reform?," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Richmond Times-Dispatch, and Albany Times Union, September 29.
[24] Nicholas Carnes and Noam Lupu. 2017. "It's Time to Bust the Myth: Most Trump Voters Were Not Working Class," Monkey Cage, June 5.
[23] Nicholas Carnes and Noam Lupu. 2017. "The Rich Get Elected -- But it's Not because Voters Necessarily Prefer Them," Democratic Audit, February 22.
[22] Nicholas Carnes and Noam Lupu. 2016. "Voters Actually Don't Prefer Wealthy Politicians," Monkey Cage, December 6.
[21] Nicholas Carnes. 2016. "Casting a Wider Net: The Untapped Potential of Programs to Increase the Economic Diversity of the Candidate Pool." Report prepared for Purchasing Power? The Next Generation of Research on Money and Politics, Ford Foundation, June 16th-17th.
[20] Nicholas Carnes and Noam Lupu. 2016. "Why Trump's Appeal is Wider than You Might Think." MSNBC.com, April 8.
[19] Nicholas Carnes and Eric Hansen. 2016. "Why Paying Legislators Higher Salaries Will Not Draw More Blue-Collar Workers into Office." SSN Key Findings, February.
[18] Nicholas Carnes and Noam Lupu. 2015. "Scott Walker Didn't Finish College. Would that Make Him a Bad President?" Politico, July 8.
[17] Nicholas Carnes. 2014. "Seeking More Working-Class Americans in Congress." Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Communities and Banking Newsletter, December 2.
[16] Nicholas Carnes. 2014. "The Class War in American Politics is Over. The Rich Won." Vox, September 3.
[15] Nicholas Carnes and Noam Lupu. 2014. "The Rich are Running Latin America." The Monkey Cage, April 8.
[14] Nicholas Carnes. 2014. "Congress Doesn't Have to Be a Millionaires' Club." The Monkey Cage, January 8, 2014.
[13] Nicholas Carnes. 2014. "Millionaires Run Our Government. Here's Why that Matters." The Monkey Cage, January 7.
[12] Nicholas Carnes. 2013. "We Need Blue-collar Candidates." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Raleigh News and Observer , Contra Costa Times, Oakland Tribune, Newark Star-Ledger, and Detroit Free Press, October 11-17.
[11] Nicholas Carnes. 2013. "How Poorer Politicians can Shatter the Cash Ceiling." Bangor Daily News, October 1.
[10] Nicholas Carnes and Noam Lupu. 2013. "Como Afecta el Gobierno de los Privilegiados a la Democracia?" Condistintosacentos, September.
[9] Nicholas Carnes and David Broockman. 2013. "The Promise of Union Programs that Recruit and Support Workers to Run for Public Office." SSN Basic Facts, August.
[8] Nicholas Carnes and Noam Lupu. 2013. "How Government by the Privileged Distorts Democracies." SSN Key Findings, July.
[7] Nicholas Carnes. 2013. "The Cash Ceiling" SSN Forum on Money in Politics, July.
[6] Nicholas Carnes. 2013. Review of The Not-So-Special Interests: Interest Groups, Public Representation, and American Governance by Matt Grossman. American Review of Politics 34: 129-132.
[5] Nicholas Carnes. 2013. "A Tax Reform Plan that Rewards the Wealthy and Stalls the State." The Raleigh News and Observer, January 25.
[4] Nicholas Carnes and John Holbein. 2013. "Are Politicians Prejudiced Against the Poor?" SSN Key Findings, January.
[3] Nicholas Carnes. 2012. "Which Millionaire Are You Voting For?" The New York Times Sunday Review, October 13.
[2] Nicholas Canres. 2012. "Economic Inequality and White-collar Government." States, Power, and Societies 17(2): 4-7.
[1] Nicholas Carnes. 2012. "How Government by the Privileged Distorts Economic Policy." SSN Key Findings, January.