33 lines
2.2 KiB
Markdown
33 lines
2.2 KiB
Markdown
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A quick note on the value of donations
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The value you get from money is higher the less money you have. So if you live on $50k a year, $100 is worth much less than if you earn $500 a year.
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If you eyeball a map of GPD per capita, then Europe/the US is living on around $50k/year, Latin America is living on $10k a year, and central Africa is living on $1k/year:
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<iframe src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/gdp-per-capita-worldbank" loading="lazy" style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;"></iframe>
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But these are averages, so the poorest people in Africa are earning less:
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<iframe src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-population-in-extreme-poverty?country=BGD~BOL~MDG~IND~CHN~ETH~COD" loading="lazy" style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;"></iframe>
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To a first approximation, the value you get from your money is roughly logarithmic. So the value of $100 for someone earning $50k a year is
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Δrich = log(50,000 + 100) - log(50,000) = 0.00199...
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whereas the value of $100 for someone earning $500 a year is
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Δpoor = log(500 + 100) - log(500) = 0.182...
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The units are arbitrary, but the gist is that an additional $100 is worth Δpoor/Δrich = 0.182/0.00199 ~90 times as much to someone much poorer.
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[GiveDirectly](https://www.givedirectly.org/financials/) does just that: sending money to some of the people to whom it would make the biggest difference. They spend a bit over 10% on delivery costs, have a good reputation amongst people who care about it, and are recommended by GiveWell, the hardcore charity evaluator:
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<div class="flourish-embed flourish-chart" data-src="visualisation/7232617?728238"><script src="https://public.flourish.studio/resources/embed.js"></script></div>
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So donations to GiveDirectly are probably a good way to start on the path to making the world a better place, or at least vastly, vastly better than many alternatives. For further resources, see:
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- [GiveWell](https://www.givewell.org/)
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- [80,000 hours](https://80000hours.org/)
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- [Effectiveness is a Conjunction of Multipliers](https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/GzmJ2uiTx4gYhpcQK/effectiveness-is-a-conjunction-of-multipliers)
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