I am not saying that Alex is anything like a traitor or supports YIMBY for nefarious reasons. I am saying that there can be better candidates for his job. For example, I identified this Aravind Eye Care hospitals, a profitable investment, which treats blindness at a large scale and for free for 70% of patients. Or, training surgeons to do a hernia repair with a bednet ($12.88/DALY averted) can be quite suitable for a cool personal tip. A fistula surgeon in Uganda recommended transportation stipend fund for children at the risk of disability (otherwise families do not spend the $15 and the people then have issues). That can be a somewhat touching (and also highly cost-effective) recommendation. These three opportunities should also increase or prevent the decrease of wellbeing and improve productivity, in addition to improving health. And, even a stereotypical Californian could be excited about them.
This idea is not associated with one person, on the other hand, I somewhat arbitrarily used the example of Mr. Berger to criticize the broader issue that one could see: it is not that the most cost-effective interventions are identified by extensive critical dialogue with multiple affected and unaffected stakeholders, but bombastic narratives are used to trick people to keep loyalty to GiveWell without critically thinking about how they can actually benefit the world the most. (I am not arguing that if people give to literally shooting the moon, because, for example, the US military makes them excited about it, it is better than if they support GiveWell in conjuction with some projects, which can be interpreted as attention-captivating or -keeping. I am saying that if we can presume that funders actually want to hear and think with others about smart tips in Global Health and Wellbeing and do not need to be entertained by something that resembles a stereotypical popular Californian TV channel, then we should have that attitude. Sometimes, the interests of a group may seem similar to what is portrayed on the TV. But, TV does not resemble reality.)
It is disrespectful and uncaring to confirm people’s biases and do not do any thinking for them, especially if it is your job.
I am not criticizing that the justification was short, or unsupported by scientific evidence, I am pointing out that impact cost-effectiveness analysis was not conducted properly, because impact was in the wrong units and cost was not considered (and compared to other programs that bring comparable benefits or it was not self-evident that this is cost-effective like magic, like high blood pressure screening in upper middle-income countries). The paper that you cite may be ‘tricking’ decisionmakers into giving this issue importance, because of fancy math and formal tone, but it does not say anything about cost-effectiveness. I think that it discusses the price elasticity. That is why I was suggesting the (introductory) Virtual Program: You need to consider impact and support projects on the tail of cost-effectiveness is maybe Day 2 after introductions.
I do not think that the productivity is affected, because it (possibly) pushes away low-income people, who can be assumed not more productive, in real terms, in an affluent neighborhood than in a less affluent one (for example, a shop assistant does the same work in LA and some smaller city but is paid more in LA). However, if people move away, labor supply decreases, then the price of labor increases and people get higher income. The issue can be that high-income people then need to pay more for relatively low-skilled services, which may decrease their productivity. Thus, this may enable the redistribution of income from property owners to affluent service payers.
Is it that the house owners lobbied for this policy in the first place (clearly, property owners, who may have significant policy leverage, have not advocated for YIMBY approaches)? Or, the jurisdiction decided to limit housing to make the place more feel exclusive and attract prestige-seeking innovators? Or, are the rents at market rate and YIMBY is trying to reduce them (that would cause decreased productivity)?
Also, the impacts of the change of this policy would probably be relatively limited, maybe price decreased by 7%? This could have been resolved better by room sharing where people actually get along well, because the room is set up in that way (e. g. sound barrier) or/and they enjoy being with others. Enjoying being with others increases wellbeing and may be also associated with increases in health. What about dignity or fanciness for people who stay in a very small share of the room (fancy pods—the LED lights cost dollars)? That could solve the problem with much higher cost-effectiveness. People would be cooperating more—innovativeness and productivity would increase. Room sharing could be even welcome by both affluent service buyers and property owners (who could benefit from higher total if they manage to fill a room with people who get along well and each pays more than rent/the number of tenants).
Why is camping not the best economic outcome? If low-income people, instead of paying already affluent property owners stay for free, then that is effectively redistribution, which creates utility, according to the logarithmic model. Issues that are associated with camping may be not the best economic outcome. For example, if people are disturbed from studying by cars or do not have lights. That could be resolved by earplugs and solar lamp. If people are taking drugs, because they are nudged into it on the streets, that could be resolved by relevant programs, such as nudging into commercial upskilling; cool sports/dance or any other art or physical activity self-development; relationship building based on mutual understanding, respect, care, and love; or drug cessation therapy. Even the highly productive people would just pay these people to be there, dancing in a way that leads the emotion very well, according to the busy passerby’s liking. So, some of the campers would remain economically unproductive but their (extra-economic) contribution to wellbeing would be priceless.
With regards to the example ofyour criticism, I think that the book is trying to make you do exactly that: come up ‘yourself’ with the idea that we need to think about issues now, so that we can solve them. So, even though you may be indirectly criticizing the author’s (or their collaborators’) narrative, you are not criticizing the author’s approach itself (because they are in control of how they want to contribute to the advancement of EA thinking—get people behave predictably or encourage them to develop innovative solutions now).
Actually, this thinking about your criticism makes me wonder:
I am not saying that Alex is anything like a traitor or supports YIMBY for nefarious reasons. I am saying that there can be better candidates for his job. For example, I identified this Aravind Eye Care hospitals, a profitable investment, which treats blindness at a large scale and for free for 70% of patients. Or, training surgeons to do a hernia repair with a bednet ($12.88/DALY averted) can be quite suitable for a cool personal tip. A fistula surgeon in Uganda recommended transportation stipend fund for children at the risk of disability (otherwise families do not spend the $15 and the people then have issues). That can be a somewhat touching (and also highly cost-effective) recommendation. These three opportunities should also increase or prevent the decrease of wellbeing and improve productivity, in addition to improving health. And, even a stereotypical Californian could be excited about them.
This idea is not associated with one person, on the other hand, I somewhat arbitrarily used the example of Mr. Berger to criticize the broader issue that one could see: it is not that the most cost-effective interventions are identified by extensive critical dialogue with multiple affected and unaffected stakeholders, but bombastic narratives are used to trick people to keep loyalty to GiveWell without critically thinking about how they can actually benefit the world the most. (I am not arguing that if people give to literally shooting the moon, because, for example, the US military makes them excited about it, it is better than if they support GiveWell in conjuction with some projects, which can be interpreted as attention-captivating or -keeping. I am saying that if we can presume that funders actually want to hear and think with others about smart tips in Global Health and Wellbeing and do not need to be entertained by something that resembles a stereotypical popular Californian TV channel, then we should have that attitude. Sometimes, the interests of a group may seem similar to what is portrayed on the TV. But, TV does not resemble reality.)
It is disrespectful and uncaring to confirm people’s biases and do not do any thinking for them, especially if it is your job.
I am not criticizing that the justification was short, or unsupported by scientific evidence, I am pointing out that impact cost-effectiveness analysis was not conducted properly, because impact was in the wrong units and cost was not considered (and compared to other programs that bring comparable benefits or it was not self-evident that this is cost-effective like magic, like high blood pressure screening in upper middle-income countries). The paper that you cite may be ‘tricking’ decisionmakers into giving this issue importance, because of fancy math and formal tone, but it does not say anything about cost-effectiveness. I think that it discusses the price elasticity. That is why I was suggesting the (introductory) Virtual Program: You need to consider impact and support projects on the tail of cost-effectiveness is maybe Day 2 after introductions.
I do not think that the productivity is affected, because it (possibly) pushes away low-income people, who can be assumed not more productive, in real terms, in an affluent neighborhood than in a less affluent one (for example, a shop assistant does the same work in LA and some smaller city but is paid more in LA). However, if people move away, labor supply decreases, then the price of labor increases and people get higher income. The issue can be that high-income people then need to pay more for relatively low-skilled services, which may decrease their productivity. Thus, this may enable the redistribution of income from property owners to affluent service payers.
Is it that the house owners lobbied for this policy in the first place (clearly, property owners, who may have significant policy leverage, have not advocated for YIMBY approaches)? Or, the jurisdiction decided to limit housing to make the place more feel exclusive and attract prestige-seeking innovators? Or, are the rents at market rate and YIMBY is trying to reduce them (that would cause decreased productivity)?
Also, the impacts of the change of this policy would probably be relatively limited, maybe price decreased by 7%? This could have been resolved better by room sharing where people actually get along well, because the room is set up in that way (e. g. sound barrier) or/and they enjoy being with others. Enjoying being with others increases wellbeing and may be also associated with increases in health. What about dignity or fanciness for people who stay in a very small share of the room (fancy pods—the LED lights cost dollars)? That could solve the problem with much higher cost-effectiveness. People would be cooperating more—innovativeness and productivity would increase. Room sharing could be even welcome by both affluent service buyers and property owners (who could benefit from higher total if they manage to fill a room with people who get along well and each pays more than rent/the number of tenants).
Why is camping not the best economic outcome? If low-income people, instead of paying already affluent property owners stay for free, then that is effectively redistribution, which creates utility, according to the logarithmic model. Issues that are associated with camping may be not the best economic outcome. For example, if people are disturbed from studying by cars or do not have lights. That could be resolved by earplugs and solar lamp. If people are taking drugs, because they are nudged into it on the streets, that could be resolved by relevant programs, such as nudging into commercial upskilling; cool sports/dance or any other art or physical activity self-development; relationship building based on mutual understanding, respect, care, and love; or drug cessation therapy. Even the highly productive people would just pay these people to be there, dancing in a way that leads the emotion very well, according to the busy passerby’s liking. So, some of the campers would remain economically unproductive but their (extra-economic) contribution to wellbeing would be priceless.
With regards to the example of your criticism, I think that the book is trying to make you do exactly that: come up ‘yourself’ with the idea that we need to think about issues now, so that we can solve them. So, even though you may be indirectly criticizing the author’s (or their collaborators’) narrative, you are not criticizing the author’s approach itself (because they are in control of how they want to contribute to the advancement of EA thinking—get people behave predictably or encourage them to develop innovative solutions now).
Actually, this thinking about your criticism makes me wonder:
Maybe it is necessary to criticize Mr. Berger.