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Andreas Mogensen

Good Done Right: A conference on effective altruism

This July saw the first academic conference on effective altruism. The three-day event took place at All Souls College, one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford. The conference featured a diverse range of speakers addressing issues related to effective altruism in a shared setting. It was a fantastic opportunity to share insights and ideas from some of the best minds working on these issues.

I’m very pleased to announce that audio recordings from most of the talks are now available on 

, alongside speakers’ slides (where applicable). I’m very grateful to all of the participants for their fantastic presentations, and to All Souls College and the Centre for Effective Altruism for supporting the conference.

Sashika Coxhead

Why I joined Giving What We Can as a student

‘1.2 billion people live in extreme poverty.’

I think what happens to a lot of us when presented with a statistic like this is the following: we have a fleeting thought about how awful it is, and we then carry on with our lives: worrying about an exam, choosing between cereals at the supermarket, scrolling through our Facebook newsfeeds.

Just over a year ago, I decided this statistic needed more than just a fleeting thought. 1.2 billion people live 

without enough money to meet their basic needs

 – their needs for things like food, sanitation, healthcare, and shelter. It didn’t seem right that just because I was born in the right place, at the right time, I have easy access to all these things and much, much more.

After I decided this was a problem I’d like to do something about, the next question was whether it was possible to help. Should I volunteer? Raise awareness? Donate to charity? Would any of these actually do any good? I think there’s a bit of a misconception within the world of ‘doing good’ that giving money is 

. For something to really make an impact, it has to be hard, right? Well… no, actually.

Something that’s really exciting to me is the opportunity we have to alleviate the suffering of others through our donations. The most effective charities can significantly and quantifiably improve people’s lives for astonishingly small amounts of money. Giving What We Can’s recommended charities work in developing countries as there, our money goes further and problems can be very cheap to tackle [1]. For example, less than $0.50 per year treats a child for intestinal worms [2], which benefits their development, education and general health. It costs around $6 to purchase and deliver one malaria net, an intervention that is proven to reduce malaria cases and child mortality [3].

That’s not to say other ways of helping the poor, like volunteering and raising awareness, aren’t valuable. Furthermore, the two aren’t mutually exclusive: giving money doesn’t mean I can’t give my time too. However, there’s no escaping the fact that money can make a huge impact: buying 10 years of deworming treatment for the cost of a latte seems like an unrivalled opportunity to me.

After I decided it made sense to donate to the most cost effective charities, I then had to ask myself how much I should donate. I’ve now pledged to give 10% of my earned income throughout my career. People often ask how I donate 10% when I’m a student, but if you’re not earning, Giving What We Can only requires you to give 1% of your disposable income. I’m glad I’ve taken the pledge before I start earning, as it means I won’t notice the drop in income when I start giving more and can form good giving habits right from the start of my career.

10% may seem like a lot, but I’m confident that living on 90% of my income will enable me to live a happy, healthy and comfortable life, whilst saving for the future. I don’t believe that extra 10% will increase my happiness significantly, and I certainly don’t think I will spend it on anything as valuable as multiple years of healthy life for another person. Furthermore, being part of Giving What We Can is a really fun and exciting part of my life: I get to hang out with friendly, like-minded people who are continually questioning and improving on the knowledge we have about the best ways to help others.

The last question I had to ask myself was why pledge, and why so publicly? Although I’m relatively young, I want to make sure I live up to the values I hold strongly today. Pledging ensures that my fleeting thoughts about the suffering of others are, and continue to be, more than just thoughts.

Talking openly about giving is not something that’s widely done in our culture; in fact, I still find myself a little shy when talking to friends about Giving What We Can. However, we’re more likely to give if we know others are doing the same, so it doesn’t really make sense to keep quiet about it, as inspiring one other person to do the same doubles my impact. Finally, I’d like to see a world where using significant amounts of our wealth to help others is a completely normal thing to do, and being part of this community takes us one step closer to that.

http://www.givewell.org/giving101/Your-dollar-goes-further-overseas

“Deworming: A Best Buy for Development.” J-PAL Policy Bulletin, March 2012

http://www.givewell.org/international/top-charities/AMF#Costperlifesaved

Raffi Grinberg

Why I spent a month's wages on charity, not an engagement ring

Although my friend has not yet found the love of his life, he once sought counsel from a female friend on his idea for a future marriage proposal: “Would you find it romantic if we met at an empty field in a poor African village, I got down on one knee and said, ‘With the money I could have used to buy you a beautiful diamond ring, instead I funded the construction of a new school in this empty field’?”

She responded: “If you got down on one knee and said, ‘With the money I could have used to fund the construction of a new school in this empty field, instead I bought you this beautiful diamond ring’—now 

I often joked about my friend’s plan, but somehow the idea always sparked interesting conversations with my fiancée Charlotte. When we decided to become engaged this year, we decided to forego an expensive diamond. Instead, I bought a more affordable ring from a vintage store, and donated the difference between that and one month’s salary to GiveDirectly, one of GiveWell’s highest-ranked charities.

Most friends and family supported the decision, but it was met with some hesitations. I hope that by answering the most common questions we’ve received, I can explain the reasoning behind this decision—and hopefully convince you that a “donation diamond” could be the right decision for other couples as well.

If you don’t spend at least one month’s salary on a ring, won’t everyone think you’re cheap?

Money is no substitute for love. Somehow the archaic idea that “the more someone spends on you, the more he or she loves you” is still commonplace—even though once a couple gets married, they will often share their finances. (So that expensive gift your spouse-to-be just bought you is actually coming out of 

Isn’t a diamond ring the traditional way to show your love for your future wife?

Yes and no. Different cultures use varying types of jewelry to symbolize betrothal and marriage. The popularity of engagement rings (as a primary symbol of commitment) has traded back and forth with wedding band numerous times through history.

In 1930s America, when the use of diamond engagement rings was falling, the DeBeers cartel launched a pervasive advertising campaign to re-popularize them. Their slogan of “a diamond is forever” and the notion of spending one month’s salary were a part of that campaign.

Because of DeBeers’ global monopoly, they were also able to artificially inflate the prices of otherwise not-so-scarce diamonds.

If the premise of an engagement ring is so artificial, why bother with one at all?

Most cultural norms were invented by someone at some point in time, and the more important question is whether it’s worth buying into them in order to be a part of that culture. Mother’s Day may have been manufactured by the greeting card industry to increase their revenue, but I still think it’s nice that everyone gets their mother a card on the same day. (And when I say everyone, I’m forgiving my occasional lapses in calendar memory.)

Charlotte and I believe in the value of commitment, and in the ability of symbols to enhance that commitment by putting it on display for others to see. There’s something beautiful about observing a type of ring and automatically knowing that its wearer will soon vow to preserve her love.

In other words, it’s certainly worth investing some money for a durable symbol of our commitment. We just decided that hundreds of dollars was a more reasonable price range than thousands for that particular symbol—then used the remainder for something more valuable than a signifier.

And maybe, if enough people take on the idea, charity can become the new signifier.

Why is charity so valuable, if most charities use their money ineffectively?

Luckily, there has been a lot of research on this topic (check out the rest of the Giving What We Can Blog).

Each year, GiveWell ranks the world’s most transparent, cost-effective charities. As an example, GiveDirectly aims to deliver almost 90 cents of every dollar you give directly to the people who need it most.

Isn’t it impossible to find a ring that is both beautiful and durable for less than one month’s salary?

Not only is it possible, it’s actually pretty easy. Many vintage stores sell previously-worn jewelry at great prices, including diamonds. Our particular ring is from the 1900’s. If it’s already lasted one hundred years and still looks great, we figure it can go a hundred more.

And Charlotte often reminds me that “vintage is in now,” or something like that.

So should I not buy a new iPhone, because that’s also a “waste” of money?

I’m not trying to convince you to donate every spare dollar you have. I have an iPhone, too. I “waste” my money on take-out meals, on an online subscription to Netflix, and most recently on a battery-powered perpetual motion machine entitled 

 that spins in mesmerizing circles. However, I would hardly qualify these things as waste—even though other people might be able to spend that money on more essential items, they make me happy. (How can one put a price on 

It’s not worth doubting and questioning every purchase you make, because that takes a lot of fun out of life. If an engagement ring makes you happy, I’m not asking you to deny yourself that pleasure.

I’m just asking you to think about whether it’s the expensive diamond that makes you happy, or what it signifies. And if it’s the latter, to think about whether there might be a better way to signify the same thing.

Show each other what your love can do for the world.

Allan Saldanha

How to double your donation to AMF

As someone fortunate enough to have never wanted for anything all my life, I've always struggled with the degree of absolute poverty of so many people in the developing world. The world bank's poverty line is just $1.25 a day (adjusted for purchasing power that too), but there are still an estimated 600 million people below this line.

I've often made donations to charities targeting poverty like water aid, but I knew that I should be donating more, and was also keen unsure as to the impact of my donations. I then read about Toby Ord and Giving What We Can in the papers, and was really impressed with both the clear thinking behind the concept and the generosity of Toby and the other members. I had always looked for charities with low administration costs but Giving What We Can showed me that it is obviously the outcomes that are achieved that matter, and that a charity may need to spend money on distribution and monitoring of its projects to achieve the most good. Most importantly, Giving What We Can and other charity evaluators quantify the health benefits of donations using QALYs, which showed me how much my money could achieve. The fact that donations to AMF save a healthy life for just $2,300 puts it into perspective for me. The saying from the Talmud that 'whoever saves one life saves the whole world' encapsulates for me the value of life because as a parent I know that my children mean the world to me. As an investment banker who earns well above the national average, I find it inspiring that so many people on lower salaries than me are so generous with money and time, so I decided to take the pledge.

I am also very keen on match fundraising. Not only does it increase the amount of money raised, it also involves collaborating with other people and psychologically makes people feel better about the money they donate. To that end- I've set up the matching page below on AMF where I match any donations raised up to a total of £2500 (i.e. to raise a total of £5000). So please donate and make twice as much of a difference- many thanks for your generosity.

http://www.AgainstMalaria.com/DoubleYourDonation

Jacob Williamson

Child marriage: Why does it happen and what can we do?

Over the past two weeks I have interned at Giving What We Can and conducted research on the problem of child marriage. This blog post offers a summary of 

, detailing my main findings and overall impression of the problem. I focus on child marriage’s destructive effects and some promising interventions.

An estimated ten [1] to fourteen [2] million girls - females aged under eighteen - are newly married each year. According to estimates by the United Nations Population Fund, by 2021 there will be over fifteen million newly married girls each year [3] Child marriage is a leading impediment to achieving six out of eight 

Child marriage is clearly complex, but we can understand the two main causes in terms of economics and culture. Giovanna Lauro and Margaret E. Greene explain:

In low-income families, the lack of economic alternatives contributes to the practice, as marriage to an older man may be seen as bringing economic security – for the girl and sometimes for her entire family. […] In a broader sense, the acceptance of marrying a girl as a child is part of a cluster of social norms and attitudes that do not value the human rights of girls [5].

 of Girls Not Brides insists that child marriage is the key to addressing a whole cluster of issues, from education, maternal death and infant mortality to the spread of HIV, gender inequality and poverty [6]. And the evidence backs her up.

For instance, a twenty-nine country study on the effects of child marriage on education found that:

[A] woman's age at first marriage is positively related to her total years of schooling; in all 29 countries, women who married when they were 18 or older had more education than those who married at a younger age. The starkest difference was in Nigeria, where women who were at least 18 when they married achieved, on average, 9.3 years of schooling, while those who married before they were 18 remained in school for only 2.5 years [7].

By abruptly ending a girl’s education, child marriage also increases child mortality rates. A cross-national study showed that:

In 9 countries the highest rates [of child mortality] occurred among mothers with no education. […] Education of mother, followed by education of her husband and his occupation were generally the strongest explanatory variables [8].

A further major cross-national study estimated the impact of education on fertility, estimating that "doubling female secondary school enrollment (from 19 to 38 percent) in 1975 would have reduced the total fertility rate in 1985 from 5.3 to 3.9." [9].

Education also makes girls "considerably less likely to die in childbirth and thereby orphan their children with deleterious consequences." [10].

Child marriage’s bad economic effects through ending education is similarly well-established [11]. Strong evidence also exists concerning its impact on domestic and sexual violence [12], child welfare [13] and women’s political activity [14].

Fortunately, effective interventions to prevent child marriage do exist.

For instance, programs that empower girls with information, skills and support networks to enable self-advocacy are promising [15]. An Ethiopian program called 

 did this, and participants were nearly three times more likely to be in school than non-program participants, and were 90 percent less likely to be married [16].

Also promising are programs that provide economic support and incentives to girls and their families to keep them in education rather than marrying early. The 

 tried this approach, and participants were 40 percent less likely to marry after one year than girls in the control group [17]. This intervention is particularly interesting because it is simple and scalable.

Less fortunately, I have been unable to identify any promising charities that work in this area. One reason for this is that child marriage is worked on primarily by private foundations such as Nike and Ford, and states like India.

. These projects empower girls with information and skills to enable self-advocacy. In this respect they resemble the successful 

 program. However, none of the projects involve the conditional cash transfers which were found to be promising. It is also unclear how transparent the programs are, whether they track their effectiveness and whether they do more than only indicate how donations could be spent.

Still, it seems that child marriage as a cause overcomes two out of three hurdles. The problem is certainly significant enough, and effective interventions exist. If good charities working to prevent child marriage can be found, such charities should be taken seriously as giving opportunities for now or in the future.

Marry me later: Preventing child marriage and early pregnancy in India

Ending child marriage in a generation: What research is needed?

Solutions to End Child Marriage: What the Evidence Shows

Santhya, K. G. and Annabel Erulkar. 2007. ‘

Supporting Married Girls: Calling Attention to a Neglected Group

United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), 2012. "

Lauro, Giovanna; Margaret E. Greene. 2013. "

The girl effect: The ripple effect of ending child marriage.

Protecting Young Women from HIV/AIDS: The Case Against Child and Adolescent Marriage,

’ International Family Planning Perspectives 32(2): 79-88.

Hobcraft, J.N., J.W. McDonald and S.O. Rutstein. 1984. 

Socioeconomic factors in infant and child mortality: a cross-national comparison.

" Economic Development and Cultural Change 44 (1): 105–28.

Chaaban, Jad and Wendy Cunningham, 2011. ‘

Measuring the Economic Gain of Investing in Girls: the girl effect dividend

Early Marriage, Marital Relations and Intimate Partner Violence in Ethiopia

International Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health

 39(1) (March): 6-13; Santhya, K., Ram,U., Acharya, R., Jejeebhoy, S., Ram, F., & Singh, A. 2010. 

Associations Between Early Marriage and Young Women's Marital and Reproductive Health Outcomes: Evidence from India

. International Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 36(3), 132-139. New York, NY: Population Council.

Bicego, George T., and J. Ties Boerma. 1993. "

Maternal Education and Child Survival: A Comparative Study of Survey Data from 17 Countries.

Girls Count: A Global Investment and Action Agenda

My categories are from the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) & Girls Not Brides, 2013. "

Solutions to end child marriage: summary of the evidence

Parmeet Shah

Difficult decisions: How I'm using my life to help others

I studied some philosophy at university, and first came across Peter Singer’s work there. I’d always wanted to work out what the point of life was, and how I could help the world, so these ideas naturally resonated with me.

I’ve always felt a little confused about what I should be doing. My family owns a large real estate business in India called Marathon Realty, so I’d assumed for most of my life that I would go into business. But I was also concerned about whether this was the best way to make a difference and help other people. When I spoke to 80,000 hours, Giving What We Can’s sister organisation, I learned about the prospective impact I could have by becoming a businessman and donating a lot to charity, which did a lot to reassure me in my choice of joining my family’s company.

I’m currently doing a masters in real estate development in the US, but will move permantly back to India in June to take over the family business. In the long term, I’d like to start up my own charity, preferably fighting depression, the area in which I’m most interested. Until I do that I will be donating to the charities Giving What We Can recommends. I am donating 50% of my income to charity, and I feel motivated by the thought that what I spend beyond basic necessities can save many lives if I gave it away.

Peter Hurford

Where do the extremely poor work?

About 50% of the poor living in Indonesia, 72% in Cote d’Ivoire, 84% in Guatemala, and 94% in Udaipur report working multiple jobs in order to get their income -- typically one agricultural and one non-agricultural, though not always.

Most non-agricultural jobs involve self-employment as a business owner. Typically, a member of the poor household will migrate (about 60% of families), leaving for a median of one month to find employment in a nearby city. Others will perform a job earlier in the day, like selling food, and then go out and perform another job, like selling textiles, collect trash, or general labor.

Generally these entrepreneurial jobs done by the poor do not require skills. In Hyderabad, jobs of the poor breakdown to 17% general stores, 11% tailors, 8% fruit and vegetable sellers, 6.6% telephone booth operators, 6.3% milk sellers, and 4.3% auto owners. Of these, only tailoring requires a specialized skill that takes awhile to acquire.

Additionally, about 76% of the poor report at least one member of their household working for a public employment program. Many governments provide safety-net “food for work” programs, which entitle some days of physical labor under government employment at a pre-announced, low wage. Unfortunately, this kind of work is rare and is often given out in a way that discriminates against the poor.

Another interesting question is how the poor would spend additional money, if they got it. GiveDirectly, by giving cash transfers in $1000 chunks, has been able to find out. An informal survey conducted by them and shared with GiveWell found that 67% of the money spent went into home improvement (replacing a thatched roof with an iron-sheet roof), 9% went to other (like school uniforms or a motorcycle), 9% went to livestock, and 4% went to food. However, this survey was only in Kenya, and other areas might spend differently.

Typically, the poor don’t actually have access to a safe place to save money at a reasonable rate of return. Only 14% of poor households have a savings account (with the exception of Cote d’Ivoire, where the number is 79%). Even stashing cash in a pillow or a home doesn’t work well because of high inflation and rates of theft. Additionally, the poor, like everyone else, have problems resisting the temptation to spend money they have at hand, both when family members demand access to it, or when given the option to buy the same indulgences people in developed countries struggle to resist.

There also is little access to insurance. Less than 6% of the poor have access to any kind of health insurance. Generally, insurance is instead provided through friends and relatives as a type of loan exchange -- 75% of poor households report making loans, 65% report borrowing money, and 50% report both. The most common form of “insurance” to handle economic stress is eating less, taking children out of school, and foregoing medical treatment.

This lack of insurance or saving leads the poor to under-invest because they cannot accumulate financial assets, or afford to take risks. Poor families do not specialize in skills and they operate their businesses at a remarkably small scale. Poor families have access to very limited markets and infrastructure and suffer from a lack of access to credit.

What do the extremely poor buy?

, I explained about the living habits of the extremely poor.