What is our estimate for how logarithmic the utility functions of common EA charities are?
The argument is less about how the value of the marginal dollar falls off, but instead about how smoother funding is usually much more valuable to projects. Imagine Iām trying to decide between donating $100k today and $100k in a year, or $200k today. If I expect everyone else together will be donating $1M today and $10M in a year, then I should probably pick the $200k today. The idea is that the charity can probably much more productively use $1.2M today and $10M in a year than $1.1M today and $10.1M in a year.
The argument is less about how the value of the marginal dollar falls off, but instead about how smoother funding is usually much more valuable to projects. Imagine Iām trying to decide between donating $100k today and $100k in a year, or $200k today. If I expect everyone else together will be donating $1M today and $10M in a year, then I should probably pick the $200k today. The idea is that the charity can probably much more productively use $1.2M today and $10M in a year than $1.1M today and $10.1M in a year.
EDIT: added something like this to the post