Training Effective Altruism

Sultan Mehmood, Shaheen Naseer and Daniel L. Chen
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Shaheen Naseer: University of Oxford
Daniel L. Chen: TSE-R - Toulouse School of Economics - UT Capitole - Université Toulouse Capitole - UT - Université de Toulouse - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

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Abstract: Randomizing different schools of thought –via a month-long training– finds that training deputy ministers in effective altruism renders 0.4-0.6 standard deviations increase in altruism. Treated ministers increased mentalizing of others: blood donations doubled, but only when blood banks requested their exact blood type. Perspective-taking in strategic dilemmas improved. Orphanage visits and volunteering in impoverished schools also increased. We then trace the impact of the training on their policymaking: one year after training, amid official duties, ministers were 50-100% more likely to choose social policies and recommend over 4-fold additional funding for them. Overall, our results underscore that effective altruism may be a parsimonious foundation for formation of prosociality, even impacting the behavior of adults in the field and their high-stakes policymaking

Keywords: Economics; Soft-skills; Prosociality; Altruism; Policymakers (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022-12-15
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hme and nep-soc
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