Although after I wrote this post I updated towards this not being a good idea for anyone to get their income from this system long term. But I still think it would be a good alternative to other funding systems for new EAs. Retrospective funding have definite disadvantages, but for someone with out enough reputation, it may be better than the available alternatives.
Indeed! I think this transition from impact markets to other sources of funding can happen quite naturally. A new, unknown researcher may enjoy the confidence in her abilities of some close friends but has little to show that would convince major funders that she can do high-quality research. But once she has used impact markets to fund her first few high-quality pieces of research, she will have a good track record to show, and can plausibly access other sources of funding. Then she can choose between them freely, is not dependent on impact markets alone anymore.
I would very much want there to be a “money after the project” funding system for smaller projects in EA.
https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/7iptwuSyzDzxsEY5z/the-case-for-impact-purchase-or-part-1
Although after I wrote this post I updated towards this not being a good idea for anyone to get their income from this system long term. But I still think it would be a good alternative to other funding systems for new EAs. Retrospective funding have definite disadvantages, but for someone with out enough reputation, it may be better than the available alternatives.
Indeed! I think this transition from impact markets to other sources of funding can happen quite naturally. A new, unknown researcher may enjoy the confidence in her abilities of some close friends but has little to show that would convince major funders that she can do high-quality research. But once she has used impact markets to fund her first few high-quality pieces of research, she will have a good track record to show, and can plausibly access other sources of funding. Then she can choose between them freely, is not dependent on impact markets alone anymore.