But, if your philanthropy is explicitly going against what the recipient would choose for themself, well⌠From my perspective (as Vanessa this time), this is not even altruism anymore. This is imposing your own preferences on other people
Would this also apply to e.g. funding any GiveWell top charity besides GiveDirectly, or would that fall into âin practice, this is the best way to maximize the recipientâs decision-utilityâ?
I donât think most recipients would buy vitamin supplementation or bednets themselves, given cash. I guess you could say that itâs because theyâre not âwell informedâ, but then how could you predict their âdecision utility when well informedâ besides assuming it would correlate strongly with maximizing their experience utility?
I donât know much about supplements/âbednets, but AFAIU there are some economy of scale issues which make it easier for e.g. AMF to supply bednets compared with individuals buying bednets for themselves.
As to how to predict âdecision utility when well informedâ, one method I can think of is look at people who have been selected for being well-informed while similar to target recipients in other respects.
But, I donât at all claim that I know how to do it right, or even that life satisfaction polls are useless. Iâm just saying that I would feel better about research grounded in (what I see as) more solid starting assumptions, which might lead to using life satisfaction polls or to something else entirely (or a combination of both).
Would this also apply to e.g. funding any GiveWell top charity besides GiveDirectly, or would that fall into âin practice, this is the best way to maximize the recipientâs decision-utilityâ?
I donât think most recipients would buy vitamin supplementation or bednets themselves, given cash.
I guess you could say that itâs because theyâre not âwell informedâ, but then how could you predict their âdecision utility when well informedâ besides assuming it would correlate strongly with maximizing their experience utility?
A bit off-topic, but I found GiveWellâs staff documents on moral weights fascinating for deciding how much to weigh beneficiariesâ preferences, from a very different angle.
I donât know much about supplements/âbednets, but AFAIU there are some economy of scale issues which make it easier for e.g. AMF to supply bednets compared with individuals buying bednets for themselves.
As to how to predict âdecision utility when well informedâ, one method I can think of is look at people who have been selected for being well-informed while similar to target recipients in other respects.
But, I donât at all claim that I know how to do it right, or even that life satisfaction polls are useless. Iâm just saying that I would feel better about research grounded in (what I see as) more solid starting assumptions, which might lead to using life satisfaction polls or to something else entirely (or a combination of both).