To be clear, I’m not arguing that AMF is a total waste of money every way you look at it. I’m arguing that, whichever view you take about population ethics, you should probably think an alternative is more cost-effective. I reckon this conclusion is still probably true for you, even once you take the things you’ve mentioned into account. I say ‘probably’ because I don’t know what your exact moral views are, and there’s quite a lot of empirical certainty anyway knowing the impact of AMF vs alternatives.
I’d be curious to know how what someone would spend your money as a donor if their goal was economic growth in the developing world. Is there something more effective than Give Directly? It sounds like your goal is less about creating/saving happy lives, and more about economic and civic development. It’s not impossible, but I’d find it surprising (see my comment to R. Wiblin earlier) if a health intervention like AMF happened to be the best economic intervention too. To pour some cold water on AMF’s economic effectiveness, GiveWell reckons AMF saves an under-5 for $9,000 dollars, so one for every 5,000ish bednets, and an adult (by which I think they mean over-5) for $38,000. My guess is there are better ways to spend $9,000 to boost growth than saving a child’s life, if boosting growth is your aim.
Hello Sanjay,
To be clear, I’m not arguing that AMF is a total waste of money every way you look at it. I’m arguing that, whichever view you take about population ethics, you should probably think an alternative is more cost-effective. I reckon this conclusion is still probably true for you, even once you take the things you’ve mentioned into account. I say ‘probably’ because I don’t know what your exact moral views are, and there’s quite a lot of empirical certainty anyway knowing the impact of AMF vs alternatives.
I’d be curious to know how what someone would spend your money as a donor if their goal was economic growth in the developing world. Is there something more effective than Give Directly? It sounds like your goal is less about creating/saving happy lives, and more about economic and civic development. It’s not impossible, but I’d find it surprising (see my comment to R. Wiblin earlier) if a health intervention like AMF happened to be the best economic intervention too. To pour some cold water on AMF’s economic effectiveness, GiveWell reckons AMF saves an under-5 for $9,000 dollars, so one for every 5,000ish bednets, and an adult (by which I think they mean over-5) for $38,000. My guess is there are better ways to spend $9,000 to boost growth than saving a child’s life, if boosting growth is your aim.