It's not obviously harmful: the US, with its AA , has higher per capita GDP than Western countries without it.

Really? You would need a really, really high effect of affirmitative action to be stronger than all the other economic effects combined.

In mindkilled enviroments people make arguments that they would never make if they would look at the issue with a statistical perspective. This is one of those arguments.

It's not a darling of the left, as some self identified liberals don't actually like it.

That doesn't mean that it's not an effect of progressivism.