(1) The Metaculus question adjusts numbers for inflation to 2015 dollars, so they wouldnât appear explicitly in GiveWellâs spreadsheets.
(2) Note that thereâs a distinction between âoutcome as good as saving a lifeâ and âcost per life savedâ. The $890 number is (GiveWellâs 2016 estimate of) the former while the $3,000 - $5,000 is the latter. The former includes good done by reducing the probability that people die as well as good done by raising peoplesâ incomes, which at some point is equivalently good to averting a death.
Is there some kind of up-to-date dashboard or central source for GiveWellâs main âcost-per-expected-lifeâ figure?
I havenât been keeping up with GiveWellâs updates in the last year or two and am merely speculating, but perhaps GiveWell no longer employs the metric âoutcome as good as a saving a lifeâ (??). Hopefully someone else can answer this with confidence.
I assume your citation of GiveWellâs Top Charities page listing $3000-$5000 to save a life is the closest they have to a an up-to-date dashboard or central source number, and theyâre just choosing to advertise that number (a number in terms of cost to save a life) rather than advertise a cost to produce an âoutcome as good as saving a life.â
(1) The Metaculus question adjusts numbers for inflation to 2015 dollars, so they wouldnât appear explicitly in GiveWellâs spreadsheets.
(2) Note that thereâs a distinction between âoutcome as good as saving a lifeâ and âcost per life savedâ. The $890 number is (GiveWellâs 2016 estimate of) the former while the $3,000 - $5,000 is the latter. The former includes good done by reducing the probability that people die as well as good done by raising peoplesâ incomes, which at some point is equivalently good to averting a death.
Pabloâs comment here says: âAs far as I can tell, the 2020 version of GiveWellâs cost-effectiveness analysis no longer employs the category of âoutcome as good as saving a lifeâ.
I havenât been keeping up with GiveWellâs updates in the last year or two and am merely speculating, but perhaps GiveWell no longer employs the metric âoutcome as good as a saving a lifeâ (??). Hopefully someone else can answer this with confidence.
I assume your citation of GiveWellâs Top Charities page listing $3000-$5000 to save a life is the closest they have to a an up-to-date dashboard or central source number, and theyâre just choosing to advertise that number (a number in terms of cost to save a life) rather than advertise a cost to produce an âoutcome as good as saving a life.â