Political Change

Organisations which try to effect political change can do so by lobbying, campaigning, activism, and raising awareness of political issues. There are many types of political change that are sought, including numerous suggestions for reform of trade barriers, and for new international political institutions.

Such changes could have enormous effects, but the cost-effectiveness of supporting them is very difficult to quantify as one needs to determine both the value of the effects and the degree to which your donation increases the probability of the change occuring. Each of these is very difficult to estimate and since the first is potentially very large and the second very small, it is very challenging to work out which scale will dominate.

Of interest is the analysis by the Copenhagen Consensus in which the passing of the Doha development agenda (a trade agreement) was ranked as the second most cost-effective intervention, after micronutrients.1 However, it is worth noting that this is an estimate of the benefits of passing the agreement compared to its costs, and is not an estimate of the cost-effectiveness of donating to groups who are lobbying to pass it.

While it is very difficult to analyse the cost-effectiveness of organisations dedicated to political change, we are eager to look into it further in the future.

For a more detailed analysis of an intervention-type, see our pages on health.