It’s not at all clear to me why the whole $150k of a counterfactual salary would be counted as a cost. The most reasonable (simple) model I can think of is something like: ($150k * .1 + $60k) * 1.5 = $112.5k where the $150k*.1 term is the amount of salary they might be expected to donate from some counterfactual role. This then gives you the total “EA dollars” that the positions cost whereas your model seems to combine “EA dollars” (CEA costs) and “personal dollars” (their total salary).
Hmm, I guess it depends a bit on how you view this.
If you model this in terms of “total financial resources going to EA-aligned people”, then the correct calculation is ($150k * 1.5) plus whatever CEA loses in taxes for 1.5 employees.
If you want to model it as “money controlled directly by EA institutions” then it’s closer to your number.
I think the first model makes more sense, which does still suggest a lower number than what I gave above, so I will update.
I don’t particularly want to try to resolve the disagreement here, but I’d think value per dollar is pretty different for dollars at EA institutions and for dollars with (many) EA-aligned people [1]. It seems like the whole filtering/selection process of granting is predicated on this assumption. Maybe you believe that people at CEA are the type of people that would make very good use of money regardless of their institutional affiliation?
[1] I’d expect it to vary from person to person depending on their alignment, commitment, competence, etc.
It’s not at all clear to me why the whole $150k of a counterfactual salary would be counted as a cost. The most reasonable (simple) model I can think of is something like: ($150k * .1 + $60k) * 1.5 = $112.5k where the $150k*.1 term is the amount of salary they might be expected to donate from some counterfactual role. This then gives you the total “EA dollars” that the positions cost whereas your model seems to combine “EA dollars” (CEA costs) and “personal dollars” (their total salary).
Hmm, I guess it depends a bit on how you view this.
If you model this in terms of “total financial resources going to EA-aligned people”, then the correct calculation is ($150k * 1.5) plus whatever CEA loses in taxes for 1.5 employees.
If you want to model it as “money controlled directly by EA institutions” then it’s closer to your number.
I think the first model makes more sense, which does still suggest a lower number than what I gave above, so I will update.
I don’t particularly want to try to resolve the disagreement here, but I’d think value per dollar is pretty different for dollars at EA institutions and for dollars with (many) EA-aligned people [1]. It seems like the whole filtering/selection process of granting is predicated on this assumption. Maybe you believe that people at CEA are the type of people that would make very good use of money regardless of their institutional affiliation?
[1] I’d expect it to vary from person to person depending on their alignment, commitment, competence, etc.