There’s no good reason to think that GiveWell’s top charities are net harmful.
Blanket deworming is a Pascal wager. GiveWell’s assessment is that the small number of studies are probably wrong, but the claimed effect is so big that it’s worth trying. Net of this zero effect, you must subtract the cost: drugs so awful they cause riots. GiveWell does not attempt to measure this cost. Maybe you accept the gamble, but this item seems worded to avoid that framing. Or maybe you drop the huge income effects and retreat to the health effects. How many children should you poison to cure one of parasites? GiveWell does not say.
You should be suspicious of the reality of the income effect because it is so much larger than the health effect. The really bad hypothesis is that the income effect is real, but unrelated to health (alt link).
Blanket deworming is a Pascal wager. GiveWell’s assessment is that the small number of studies are probably wrong, but the claimed effect is so big that it’s worth trying. Net of this zero effect, you must subtract the cost: drugs so awful they cause riots. GiveWell does not attempt to measure this cost. Maybe you accept the gamble, but this item seems worded to avoid that framing. Or maybe you drop the huge income effects and retreat to the health effects. How many children should you poison to cure one of parasites? GiveWell does not say.
You should be suspicious of the reality of the income effect because it is so much larger than the health effect. The really bad hypothesis is that the income effect is real, but unrelated to health (alt link).