Executive summary: This exploratory post argues that while effective altruists lean left-of-center, their political outlook is best understood as a principled, technocratic liberalism—focused on economics, mistake-theory thinking, and incremental, expert-driven reforms rather than mass mobilization or radical change.
Key points:
Liberal foundations: Effective altruists see themselves as principled liberals, valuing civil liberties, rule of law, democracy, and economic freedom more consistently than most people, who often treat these values casually.
Economics as guide: EAs broadly accept mainstream economic principles (e.g., tradeoffs, incentives, gains from trade) and favor “economist-approved” policies like carbon taxes, congestion pricing, and cash transfers over bans, subsidies, or in-kind welfare.
Mistake over conflict: Most EAs implicitly reject conflict-theory politics; they assume disagreements stem from factual errors, not clashing values, and aim for positive-sum solutions that ideally leave everyone better off .
Technocratic style: EAs gravitate toward policy analysis, think tanks, and civil service roles rather than activism, electoral politics, or mass mobilization—partly because they dislike simplification and partisan conflict.
Incrementalism: They favor small, reversible policy shifts (e.g., zoning reforms) over structural transformations (e.g., “end capitalism”), with the notable exception of AI, where they fear rapid, irreversible change but still propose cautious, technical responses.
Cultural tendencies: EA politics reflects an elitist and wonky streak, shaped by comfort with expert institutions and less engagement with grassroots movements, yet overall resembles the views of a typical educated, center-left professional in the Anglosphere.
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Executive summary: This exploratory post argues that while effective altruists lean left-of-center, their political outlook is best understood as a principled, technocratic liberalism—focused on economics, mistake-theory thinking, and incremental, expert-driven reforms rather than mass mobilization or radical change.
Key points:
Liberal foundations: Effective altruists see themselves as principled liberals, valuing civil liberties, rule of law, democracy, and economic freedom more consistently than most people, who often treat these values casually.
Economics as guide: EAs broadly accept mainstream economic principles (e.g., tradeoffs, incentives, gains from trade) and favor “economist-approved” policies like carbon taxes, congestion pricing, and cash transfers over bans, subsidies, or in-kind welfare.
Mistake over conflict: Most EAs implicitly reject conflict-theory politics; they assume disagreements stem from factual errors, not clashing values, and aim for positive-sum solutions that ideally leave everyone better off .
Technocratic style: EAs gravitate toward policy analysis, think tanks, and civil service roles rather than activism, electoral politics, or mass mobilization—partly because they dislike simplification and partisan conflict.
Incrementalism: They favor small, reversible policy shifts (e.g., zoning reforms) over structural transformations (e.g., “end capitalism”), with the notable exception of AI, where they fear rapid, irreversible change but still propose cautious, technical responses.
Cultural tendencies: EA politics reflects an elitist and wonky streak, shaped by comfort with expert institutions and less engagement with grassroots movements, yet overall resembles the views of a typical educated, center-left professional in the Anglosphere.
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.