On number 1, my understanding is that upstream disciplines (e.g., medicine, public health) created most of the highly effective interventions that EAs deployed, implemented, and scaled (e.g., bednets, vaccinations). EA brought in the resources and execution ability to implement stuff that already existed in the upstream disciplines but wasn’t being implemented well due to a lack of will, or a lack of emphasis on EA principles like cost-effectiveness and impartiality. So the question I’d have for the person who was steeped in both EA and feminism is whether there is an intervention already present in women’s studies, sociology, or another field that scored well on cost-effectiveness and might be something EA could implement.
I’m skeptical that EA would have been better at inventing highly cost-effective public health strategies than physicians, public-health experts, etc. with much greater subject-matter expertise. Likewise, I’d be skeptical of EA’s ability to invent a highly cost-effective equity strategy that mainstream subject-matter experts haven’t already come up with.
On number 3, I think it’s not only that potential solutions for equity in developing countries aren’t the kind of “solution that EAs tend to be drawn to.” There’s also a mismatch between EA’s available resources and the resources needed for most potential solutions. (As far as equity in developed countries, your first and second points are rather strong.) One could describe EA’s practical resources available for implementation—with some imprecision—as some significant financial firepower and a few thousand really smart people, predominately from the US and Western Europe.
But it’s doubtful that smart Westerners is the resource that high-impact equity work in developing countries really needs. As you implied, the skill set of those particular smart Westerners may not be the ideal skill set for equity work either. In contrast, malaria biology is the same everywhere, so the dropoff in effectiveness for Westerners working on malaria in cultures other than their own is manageable.
I think this dovetails with your number 4: I would suggest that ‘humanities’-ish work is significantly more difficult to do effectively when someone is trying to do it in a culture that is significantly different from their own. But I would characterize both number 3 and 4 somewhat more in terms of equity often being a less good fit for the resources EA has available to it (although I think lower comfort / interest is also a factor).
On number 1, my understanding is that upstream disciplines (e.g., medicine, public health) created most of the highly effective interventions that EAs deployed, implemented, and scaled (e.g., bednets, vaccinations). EA brought in the resources and execution ability to implement stuff that already existed in the upstream disciplines but wasn’t being implemented well due to a lack of will, or a lack of emphasis on EA principles like cost-effectiveness and impartiality. So the question I’d have for the person who was steeped in both EA and feminism is whether there is an intervention already present in women’s studies, sociology, or another field that scored well on cost-effectiveness and might be something EA could implement.
I’m skeptical that EA would have been better at inventing highly cost-effective public health strategies than physicians, public-health experts, etc. with much greater subject-matter expertise. Likewise, I’d be skeptical of EA’s ability to invent a highly cost-effective equity strategy that mainstream subject-matter experts haven’t already come up with.
On number 3, I think it’s not only that potential solutions for equity in developing countries aren’t the kind of “solution that EAs tend to be drawn to.” There’s also a mismatch between EA’s available resources and the resources needed for most potential solutions. (As far as equity in developed countries, your first and second points are rather strong.) One could describe EA’s practical resources available for implementation—with some imprecision—as some significant financial firepower and a few thousand really smart people, predominately from the US and Western Europe.
But it’s doubtful that smart Westerners is the resource that high-impact equity work in developing countries really needs. As you implied, the skill set of those particular smart Westerners may not be the ideal skill set for equity work either. In contrast, malaria biology is the same everywhere, so the dropoff in effectiveness for Westerners working on malaria in cultures other than their own is manageable.
I think this dovetails with your number 4: I would suggest that ‘humanities’-ish work is significantly more difficult to do effectively when someone is trying to do it in a culture that is significantly different from their own. But I would characterize both number 3 and 4 somewhat more in terms of equity often being a less good fit for the resources EA has available to it (although I think lower comfort / interest is also a factor).