David Callahan

In a cutthroat economic climate, everybody wants to get ahead, and decades of deregulation have made it easy to bend the rules. The author of The Cheating Culture: Why More Americans Are Doing Wrong to Get Ahead, David Callahan offers explanations for the proliferation of cheating. He argues that when the middle class sees wealthy cheaters get away with nothing more than a slap on the wrist, it inspires them to follow suit.

Callahan is co-founder of the independent think tank Demos, a public policy center based in New York City that combines research and advocacy to strengthen democracy and expand economic opportunity within the United States. It focuses on creating an open resource of knowledge and learning that operates beyond traditional parties, identities, and disciplines.

Callahan is the author of Trading Up as well as three books on US foreign policy and international affairs, including Unwinnable Wars: American Power and Ethnic Conflict. His latest book, Fortunes of Change: The Rise of the Liberal Rich and the Remaking of America, was published in 2010. His articles have appeared in The American Prospect, Foreign Policy, The New York Times, USA Today, and The Washington Post. He has also been a frequent commentator on television programs on CBS, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and PBS and has been a regular guest on radio talk shows across the United States, including such NPR programs as "The Connection," "Morning Edition," and "The Tavis Smiley Show."

Prior to co-founding Demos, Callahan was a fellow at the Century Foundation, engaging in wide-ranging public policy research and analysis.

David Callahan frequently speaks about issues of ethics and integrity to universities, corporations, and various associations, explaining how our cheating culture originated and offering solutions to fix it.