About me

Welcome! I am a PhD Candidate in Political Science at Yale University. My research is focused primarily on American Politics, Public Policy, and Political Behavior. I earned my B.S. in Applied and Computational Mathematics and Statistics and Political Science from the University of Notre Dame.

My research focuses on how major policies of the late twentieth-century, such as the push for local governments to outsource social services to non-profit organizations, have restructured local political economies. My dissertation, The Policy Influence of Non-Profit Service Providers in Local Politics, examines the causes of non-profit political activity and policy influence in local and state politics. Using over one hundred qualitaitve interviews, participant observation, archival research, and large-N observational analyses, I argue that the concentration of specialized expertise, non-profit embeddedness in policy networks, and interorganizational non-profit coordination empower non-profits to engage in political activity and policy influence. Further, I argue that because outsourcing institutes the partnerships and markets that give rise to these three key factors, the policy undermines its own goals by entrenching monopolistic, rent-seeking interest goals while also undermining the independence of civil society. In addition to this book project, I have published work and working papers on public opinion, political behavior, and policy feedback in the U.S. context.

You can download my CV here, and you can contact me at nicholas.ottone@yale.edu. Thank you for visiting!