Rubenstein says that “As the low-hanging fruit of basic health programs and cash transfers are exhausted, saving lives and alleviating suffering will require more complicated political action, such as reforming global institutions.” Unfortunately, there’s a whole lot of low-hanging fruit out there, and things have recently gotten even worse as of late with the USAID collapse and the UK cutting back on foreign aid.
In general, as the level of EA’s involvement and influence in a given domain increases, the more I start to be concerned about the sort of things that Rubenstein worries about here. When a particular approach is at a smaller size, it’s likely to concentrate on niches where its strengths shine and its limitations are less relevant. I would put the classic GiveWell-type interventions in that category, for instance. Compared to the scope of both the needs in global health & development and the actions of other actors, EA is still a fairly small fish.
Rubenstein says that “As the low-hanging fruit of basic health programs and cash transfers are exhausted, saving lives and alleviating suffering will require more complicated political action, such as reforming global institutions.” Unfortunately, there’s a whole lot of low-hanging fruit out there, and things have recently gotten even worse as of late with the USAID collapse and the UK cutting back on foreign aid.
In general, as the level of EA’s involvement and influence in a given domain increases, the more I start to be concerned about the sort of things that Rubenstein worries about here. When a particular approach is at a smaller size, it’s likely to concentrate on niches where its strengths shine and its limitations are less relevant. I would put the classic GiveWell-type interventions in that category, for instance. Compared to the scope of both the needs in global health & development and the actions of other actors, EA is still a fairly small fish.