Astral Codex Ten Podcast Slightly Against The "Other People's Money" Argument Against Aid
10 snips
Feb 18, 2026 A thoughtful critique of the claim that public funding for aid is just forcing other people to give. They debate whether taxes enable coordination and tackle free-rider and transaction-cost problems. Psychological motives like signalling and time-inconsistent preferences show up as ways voters support collective funding. Practical fixes like opt-out mechanisms are floated.
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Voting Isn’t Just Spending Other People’s Money
- Voter support for foreign aid can't be reduced to people happily spending other people's money.
- Scott Alexander notes many supporters would personally pay the same tax, so other-people-money is an incomplete explanation.
Force Multipliers Don’t Fully Explain Aid Votes
- Using government can act as a force multiplier by pooling reluctant non-donors' money.
- But Scott argues wealthy pro-aid coalitions controlling most wealth wouldn't need laws to seize a small extra share.
Virtue Signalling Can Drive Collective Votes
- Virtue-signalling can make voting for taxes costless personally because one's vote rarely affects one's own tax bill.
- This creates incentives to vote "yes" even if you wouldn't donate personally.