His research focuses on U.S. politics, legislative decision making, representation, social class, economic inequality, and state and local politics. Carnes’ upcoming book “White-Collar Government: The Hidden Role of Class in Economic Policy Making” examines how the shortage of people from the working class in American legislatures skews the policy-making process toward outcomes that are more in line with the upper class’s economic interests. He is a member of the Scholars Strategy Network, an organization that brings America’s leading scholars together to address public challenges on national, state and local levels. Nicholas Carnes spoke at the University of Maine earlier this month