Executive summary: This post explores why Effective Altruism (EA), despite early interest and strong moral and economic arguments for open borders, has largely abandoned migration reform as a cause area, suggesting that funding failures, a shift toward capitalist-aligned groups, and a hostile political climate contributed to its decline.
Key points:
Open borders advocacy combines moral (global justice, humanitarian relief) and pragmatic (economic gains for both migrants and host countries) arguments, making it attractive to both left-leaning and market-oriented supporters.
EA initially highlighted “international labour mobility” as a top cause area (e.g., in William MacAskill’s Doing Good Better), and Open Philanthropy once funded immigration policy work—but at <1% of total grants, and the program was eventually shut down.
EA’s practical contributions to migration reform remain minimal compared to other areas like AI governance, despite dozens of Forum posts and a dedicated website.
Possible reasons for this retreat include changing attitudes among influential EAs, the politically hostile climate for immigration advocacy, and discomfort with being associated with unpopular causes.
Funding leaned heavily toward business-oriented groups like ImmigrationWorks, which pursued employer-friendly reforms rather than prioritizing migrant welfare, raising concerns about pro-capitalist bias undermining EA’s pro-social goals.
The author argues that if EA abandoned open borders due to poor impact from capitalist-aligned grantees, it should consider rebalancing by engaging more with leftist or migrant-centered advocacy.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, and contact us if you have feedback.
Executive summary: This post explores why Effective Altruism (EA), despite early interest and strong moral and economic arguments for open borders, has largely abandoned migration reform as a cause area, suggesting that funding failures, a shift toward capitalist-aligned groups, and a hostile political climate contributed to its decline.
Key points:
Open borders advocacy combines moral (global justice, humanitarian relief) and pragmatic (economic gains for both migrants and host countries) arguments, making it attractive to both left-leaning and market-oriented supporters.
EA initially highlighted “international labour mobility” as a top cause area (e.g., in William MacAskill’s Doing Good Better), and Open Philanthropy once funded immigration policy work—but at <1% of total grants, and the program was eventually shut down.
EA’s practical contributions to migration reform remain minimal compared to other areas like AI governance, despite dozens of Forum posts and a dedicated website.
Possible reasons for this retreat include changing attitudes among influential EAs, the politically hostile climate for immigration advocacy, and discomfort with being associated with unpopular causes.
Funding leaned heavily toward business-oriented groups like ImmigrationWorks, which pursued employer-friendly reforms rather than prioritizing migrant welfare, raising concerns about pro-capitalist bias undermining EA’s pro-social goals.
The author argues that if EA abandoned open borders due to poor impact from capitalist-aligned grantees, it should consider rebalancing by engaging more with leftist or migrant-centered advocacy.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, and contact us if you have feedback.