Nolan M. Kavanagh

Wow, that might be my first appearance on a syllabus. Extremely flattered, @mirandayaver.bsky.social. :)

Uhh, so apropos of nothing, my research looks at how declines in health can drive people to the political extremes.

Sometimes those extremes are on the far-right. In a forthcoming work, we find it can happen on the left.

Here's a helpful review:
eurohealthobservatory.who.int/publications...

i only have so many interesting thoughts!!

Ah yes, in that case, fair call!

In general, the election discourse could use some more rigor.

What's in a Surname? The Effects of Surname Initials on Academic Success (Winter 2006) - In this paper, we focus on the effects of surname initials on professional outcomes in the academic labor market for economists. We begin our analysis with data on faculty in all top 3...

Reminds me of a few papers:
www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=...

academic.oup.com/ej/article-a...

Heads up to faculty: Consider introducing your program's job market candidates in random order or, better, separate tweets.

The drop off in views and engagement in long threads is dramatic, so early-alphabet names tend to get more attention!

Unsure of the exact context here, but I always struggle to reconcile individual- and population-level explanations.

Two individual-level explanations can explain variation without explaining population trends, e.g. apathy drives some people to vote less, anger drives more, but on average cancel.

Unfortunately, RFK Jr. is exactly the kind of politician who resonates with people with poor health and disabilities.

This population tends to gravitate towards anti-establishment politicians who promise a "fix."

And it's because of what Julia says. 👇
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

This isn’t just a review of exciting research, done by two fantastic scholars. It’s also very, very important stuff that helps explain some of what’s been going wrong in politics - distrust, radicalization - and things health policymakers and clinicians can do to address it.

Lastly, some health politics folks who might be interested: @ddiamond.bsky.social @metrauxjulia.bsky.social @brittanytrang.bsky.social @lizszabo.bsky.social @lizhighleyman.bsky.social @reportergoodman.bsky.social @alexander-a-tin.bsky.social @owermohle.bsky.social @megtirrell.bsky.social.

This review is a love letter to the health politics community, and I'm so grateful for their work: @adrianna.bsky.social @jacobwswallace.bsky.social @povertyscholar.bsky.social @askellyphd.bsky.social @dhopkins1776.bsky.social @oberlanderunc.bsky.social @aaronreeves.bsky.social and so, so many more.

YouTube video by European Observatory on Health Systems & Policies The co-benefits of health and health systems for democracy

Here's our WHO European Observatory webinar, where we preview the brief and answer questions about it.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIME...

Link to the brief: eurohealthobservatory.who.int/publications...

Co-authored with Anil Menon.

Grateful for @scottlgreer.bsky.social and Flavia Topan.

We talk about the limits of causal identification in the review, but health is clearly tied to people's politics.

If we want functional, accessible democratic institutions, then we must have a population that is healthy enough to participate in them.

🧵 8/8

Diagram showing that health, social structures, and politics exist in a self-reinforcing cycle. People's health shapes their politics, their political engagement leads to government policies, and those policies, in turn, shape people's socioeconomic conditions and health.

Policy makers can engage patient advocacy groups and make it easier for people in poor health to vote.

Also, they can support health-promoting policies with universal, easily identifiable benefits.

This can create a virtuous cycle — rather than the vicious one we face.

🧵 7/8

Screenshot of Vot-ER's website, with a banner emphasizing the potential to strengthen democracy in clinics and hospitals.

What can we do about it?

For one, clinicians and health systems can support affirming health care experiences, rebuild trust, and encourage their patients to civically engage.

We especially love the example of Vot-ER.

🧵 6/8

Four bar graphs showing that European who report worse health have less trust in politicians, less trust in parliament, less satisfaction with democracy, and less satisfaction with the health system.

2. Partly due to stigmatizing and demeaning experiences, people in poor health trust the health system, public institutions, and democracy less.

3. As a result, people in poor health are more likely to gravitate toward anti-establishment populist parties.

🧵 5/8

Screenshot of the European Patients Forum website, with a banner highlighting "The Patient Organizations' Manifesto."

1. People in poor health are much less likely to vote, but they engage in politics in other ways, like signing petitions and writing letters.

Patient advocacy groups are especially helpful in politically engaging this population.

We love the example of European Patients Forum.

🧵 4/8

As a result, health may be a powerful influence on people's political preferences and behaviors.

We reviewed over 170 articles on the topic, ranging from political science to economics to public health.

We summarized the literature in a few key points.

🧵 3/8

Four maps of Europe showing widespread mistrust in political actors and dissatisfaction with democratic and health institutions.

Trust in democratic institutions is low, and anti-democratic parties are flourishing.

There are many determinants of people's politics, but an underappreciated one is health.

After all, good health and ability allow us to work, socialize, and engage in civic activities.

🧵 2/8

Cover page of WHO/European Observatory Policy Brief 67, "Health as a driver of political participation and preferences: Implications for policy-makers and political actors," by Nolan M. Kavanagh and Anil Menon.

🚨 NEW REVIEW 🚨

Who participates in the democratic process? Who trusts public institutions? And who turns toward anti-democratic political movements?

In a new review for WHO, we emphasize that people's health is central to these questions.

🧵 1/8

The RAND health insurance experiment randomized percentages of coinsurance, albeit binned.

but where will i get my fill of far-right bots??

so far, this place is much better than the dumpster fire. who’d’ve thought!