Jacob Schmiess
Jake is an Economist in the Animal Welfare Department at Rethink Priorities. He holds a PhD in Agricultural Economics from Purdue University; his dissertation explored consumer behavior in food choice. Prior to joining Rethink Priorities, Jake worked as an independent contractor in animal welfare and health economics.
Research Articles
Is vegetarianism/veganism growing more partisan over time?
In a 60 month long food demand survey of a representative sample of the U.S. done by Oklahoma State University, very liberal participants were most likely to report being veg*n (vegetarian/vegan) at 15%, roughly 10% higher than the remaining participants. Data shows a gap in veg*n rates between liberals (9.9%) and conservatives (3.8%), and between Democrats (7.4%) and Republicans (4.8%). However, annual trends show that veg*n rates among conservatives/Republicans are rising as quickly or quicker than liberals/Democrats. Roughly 60% of self-reported veg*ns also selected a meat option from nine total food options, two of which were veg*n. Annual trends for veg*n rates largely decrease after filtering out “meat-purchasing veg*ns” suggesting that people are growing more likely to report being veg*n while continuing to select meat products.
EA Survey 2020: Geography
There are 21 countries with 10 or more respondents – 17 of which are in North America, Europe, or Australasia. 92% of our respondents came from these countries. The percentage of respondents outside the top 5 countries has grown in recent years, from 22% in 2018, to 26% in 2019 and 31% in 2020. There are fewer EAs from the UK among those who joined EA more recently (in contrast to steady or growing numbers elsewhere). The largest numbers of the most highly engaged EAs come from the US (39%), followed by Europe (29%) and then the UK (21%) and the rest of the world (14%). The UK has the highest proportion of male EAs (78%), followed by the rest of Europe (73%), and then the US and the rest of the world (67-68%). Europe has the lowest average age of EAs (28.1 years), followed by the US (29.9), the UK (30.6), and then the rest of the world (31.2). Overall satisfaction with the EA community is lower in the US and UK than in other regions and countries.