I’m not really any more capable or competent at doing the things I’ve done than a local American graduate would have been—there was no real justification for me to spend my own money moving to the US and staying here to work on these things whilst someone from Boston could have worked on them instead.
I dunno, moving/immigrating isn’t that expensive in relative terms, when compared to the other costs of hiring people and doing great work. Like we’re talking about a one-time cost of maybe 5-100k for a potential lifetime of valuable EA work (whether direct work or earning-to-give[1]).
Also, standard economics models would suggest that people move too rarely, rather than too frequently.
Importantly, even if someone stops being interested in direct EA work, or otherwise can’t find a good fit, US salaries are just so much higher than salaries elsewhere (especially compared to developing countries), particularly on the high end. So the earnings potential alone is a strong argument for working in or immigrating to the US, on consequentialist moral grounds.
I dunno, moving/immigrating isn’t that expensive in relative terms, when compared to the other costs of hiring people and doing great work. Like we’re talking about a one-time cost of maybe 5-100k for a potential lifetime of valuable EA work (whether direct work or earning-to-give[1]).
Also, standard economics models would suggest that people move too rarely, rather than too frequently.
Importantly, even if someone stops being interested in direct EA work, or otherwise can’t find a good fit, US salaries are just so much higher than salaries elsewhere (especially compared to developing countries), particularly on the high end. So the earnings potential alone is a strong argument for working in or immigrating to the US, on consequentialist moral grounds.