Nolan Matthew McCarty (born December 10, 1967) is an American

political scientist Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

specializing in U.S. politics, democratic political institutions, and political methodology. He has made notable contributions to the study of partisan polarization, the politics of economic inequality, theories of policy-making, and the statistical analysis of legislative voting. He is currently the Susan Dod Brown Professor of Politics and Public Affairs at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

, where he is also the Director of the Center for Data-Driven Social Science.

Early life and education

McCarty was born and raised in

Odessa, Texas Odessa () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Ector County, Texas, Ector County with portions extending into Midland County, Texas, Midland County. Odessa's population was 114,428 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 ...

. He attended Nimitz Junior High School, earning an

American Legion The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is an Voluntary association, organization of United States, U.S. war veterans headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. It comprises U.S. state, state, Territories of the United States, U.S. terr ...

award. He graduated from Odessa High School in 1986 as

valedictorian Valedictorian is an academic title for the class rank, highest-performing student of a graduation, graduating class of an academic institution in the United States. The valedictorian is generally determined by an academic institution's grade poin ...

, where over his time there he received

academic decathlon The Academic Decathlon (also called AcDec, AcaDeca or AcaDec) is an annual Student competition, high school academic competition organized by the non-profit United States Academic Decathlon (USAD). The competition consists of seven objective mult ...

medals, an award from the

Colorado School of Mines The Colorado School of Mines (Mines) is a public research university in Golden, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1874, the school offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees in engineering, science, and mathematics, with a focus on ener ...

for math and science, and was a National Merit Finalist. While in high school, McCarty won first place in an essay contest sponsored by the Presidential Museum and Leadership Library, by focusing on economic policy if he was president. He was a first-generation college student at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

, where he would graduate with a BA in economics in 1990. He received a MS in

political economy Political or comparative economy is a branch of political science and economics studying economic systems (e.g. Marketplace, markets and national economies) and their governance by political systems (e.g. law, institutions, and government). Wi ...

from

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became the Carnegie Institu ...

in 1992, and a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in political economy from Carnegie Mellon University in 1993.Curriculum Vitae
''Princeton University''. Retrieved February 8, 2024.

Academia

Prior to joining the faculty at Princeton in 2001 as a professor, he taught at

USC Marshall School of Business The USC Marshall School of Business is the business school of the University of Southern California. It is accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. In 1997 the school was renamed following a $35 million donation fr ...

and

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

. At Princeton, McCarty has served as chair of the Politics Department from 2011 to 2018; associate dean at

Princeton School of Public and International Affairs The Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (''abbrev.'' SPIA; formerly the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs) is a professional public policy school at Princeton University. The school provides an array of co ...

from 2005 to 2011; acting dean, School of Public and International Affairs from 2007 to 2008; and as a member of the executive committees for the Julis-Rabinowitz Center for Finance and Public Policy and Center for the Study of Democratic Politics. In 2010, he and Princeton President emeritus Harold Shapiro co-chaired a significant curricular reform for the School of Public and International Affairs Undergraduate Program. Along with Keith Krehbiel, he founded the '' Quarterly Journal of Political Science'', a journal that focuses on innovative research in analytical political science. In 2010, McCarty was elected as a member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

Personal life

McCarty is married and has two kids. He runs every day, competes in 20 races a year, and has finished 10 marathons.

Books

* * * * * *

Selected publications

*''The Ideological Mapping of American Legislatures'' (with Boris Shor) (American Political Science Review 105(3): 530–551, 2011) *''Political Fortunes: On Finance and Its Regulation'' (with Keith Poole, Thomas Romer and Howard Rosenthal) (Daedalus 139(4): 61–73, 2010) *''Does Gerrymandering Cause Polarization?'' (with Keith Poole and Howard Rosenthal) (American Journal of Political Science 53(3): 666–680, 2009) *''Presidential Vetoes in the Early Republic: Changing Constitutional Norms or Electoral Reform'' (Journal of Politics 71(2): 369–384, 2009) *''Bureaucratic Capacity, Delegation, and Political Reform'' (with John Huber) (American Political Science Review 98(3): 481–494, 2004) *''The Hunt for Party Discipline'' (with Keith Poole and Howard Rosenthal (American Political Science Review 95(3): 673–687, 2001) *''The Politics of Blame: Bargaining before an Audience'' (with Timothy Groseclose) (American Journal of Political Science 45(1): 100–119, 2000) *''Advice and Consent: Senate Response to Executive Branch Nominations, 1885–1996'' (with Rose Razaghian (American Journal of Political Science 43(3): 1122–43, 1999)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCarty, Nolan American political scientists University of Chicago alumni Princeton University faculty Odessa High School (Texas) alumni Odessa, Texas People from Odessa, Texas 1967 births Living people Carnegie Mellon University alumni University of Southern California faculty Columbia School of International and Public Affairs faculty