Brendan Nyhan - Robert Wood Johnson Scholar in Health Policy Research, University of Michigan

Biography

I am a Robert Wood Johnson Scholar in Health Policy Research at the University of Michigan. I received my Ph.D. from the Department of Political Science at Duke University in May 2009. In 2011, I will join the Department of Government at Dartmouth College as an assistant professor.

My research focuses on the consequences of increased partisanship in the contemporary era - in particular, the growing number of controversies and beliefs that are not supported by convincing factual evidence but still play an important role in shaping behaviors and outcomes. (My publications and working papers are listed below; see my CV for more.)

From 2001-2004, Ben Fritz, Bryan Keefer, and I edited Spinsanity, a non-partisan watchdog of political spin that was syndicated in Salon and the Philadelphia Inquirer. In 2004, we published All the President's Spin, a New York Times bestseller that Amazon.com named one of the ten best political books of the year.

Previously, I was a marketing and fundraising consultant for Benetech, a Silicon Valley technology nonprofit, and Deputy Communications Director of the Bernstein for US Senate campaign in Nevada. I grew up in Mountain View, CA and attended Swarthmore College. My family and I currently live in Ann Arbor, MI.

Publications

"Party and Constituency in the U.S. Senate, 1933-2004" in Why Not Parties?, Nathan W. Monroe, Jason M. Roberts, and David Rohde, eds., University of Chicago Press, 2008. (with John Aldrich, Michael Brady, Scott de Marchi, Ian McDonald, David Rohde, and Michael Tofias)
-Stata 8 replication data and code

All the President's Spin: George W. Bush, the Media and the Truth (with Ben Fritz and Bryan Keefer -- Touchstone, 2004)

Working/conference papers

Dissertation on presidential scandal

Strategic Outrage: The politics of presidential scandal [defended 3/24/09]

Breeding Ground: When presidents are more vulnerable to political scandal

Political psychology

When Corrections Fail: The persistence of political misperceptions (with Jason Reifler) [revise and resubmit at Political Behavior]

Media coverage and interviews:
-NPR's "On the Media" (9/7/07)
-Washington Post article and online chat (9/15/08)
-Kevin Drum, Mother Jones (9/15/08)
-WUNC's "The State of Things" (9/18/08)
-Christian Science Monitor (9/18/08)
-Chuck Raasch, Gannett News Service (9/18/08)
-NPR's "Tell Me More" (9/19/08)
-NPR's "On the Media" (9/19/08)
-Stuart Taylor, National Journal (9/20/08)
-Bill Bishop, Slate (9/22/08)
-Columbus Dispatch (9/22/08)
-Andrew Romano, Newsweek (9/24/08)
-Freakonomics blog, nytimes.com (9/24/08)
-Edward Wasserman, Miami Herald (9/29/08)
-Albany Times-Union (9/29/08)
-Jonathan Chait, The New Republic (10/08/08)
-Going to Extremes: How Like Minds Unite and Divide by Cass Sunstein (Oxford University Press, 5/13/09)
-"The Conversation with Ross Reynolds", KUOW (NPR) Seattle (8/4/09)
-Columbia Journalism Review (8/14/09)
-Farhad Manjoo, Slate (8/17/09)
-"KSCO Presents with David Coursey," KSCO Santa Cruz (8/18/09)
-Gregory Rodriguez, Los Angeles Times (9/28/09)
-On Rumors: How Falsehoods Spread, Why We Believe Them, What Can Be Done by Cass Sunstein (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 9/29/09)

The Effects of Semantics and Social Desirability in Correcting the Obama Muslim Myth (with Jason Reifler and the undergraduates from my PS 199AS class at Duke) [under review]

Media coverage and interviews:
-Ben Smith, Politico (6/10/09)
-Matthew Yglesias, Think Progress (6/10/09)
-Hattie Garlick, Times of London (6/10/09)
-Steve Benen, Washington Monthly (6/11/09)
-Salon.com (6/11/09)
-Daniel Finkelstein, Times of London (6/13/09)
-NPR's "On the Media" (7/3/09)
-"The Jaco Report," KTRS 550 AM St. Louis (7/23/09)

Opening the Partisan Mind? Self-affirmation and information processing about the surge in Iraq

The Limited Effects of Testimony on Political Persuasion [revise and resubmit at Public Choice]

Congress

Passing the Bucks: The Congressional contribution network 1985-2006 (with Michael Tofias)

Methods

Bayesian Model Averaging: Theoretical developments and practical applications (with Jacob Montgomery) [revise and resubmit at Political Analysis]

Reviews and reference articles

Review of Thráinn Eggertsson, Imperfect Institutions: Possibilities & Limits of Reform (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2005). Public Choice (2006) 129: 239-241.

"Miller, Warren." International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. Ed. William A. Darity, Jr. Vol. 5. 2nd edition. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2008. 180-181.

"Bush, George W." International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. Ed. William A. Darity, Jr.. Vol. 1. 2nd edition. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2008. 399-400.