david_reinstein

Karma: 3,995

I’m the Founder and Co-director of The Unjournal; We organize and fund public journal-independent feedback, rating, and evaluation of hosted papers and dynamically-presented research projects. We will focus on work that is highly relevant to global priorities (especially in economics, social science, and impact evaluation). We will encourage better research by making it easier for researchers to get feedback and credible ratings on their work.

Previously I was a Senior Economist at Rethink Priorities, and before that n Economics lecturer/professor for 15 years.

I’m working to impact EA fundraising and marketing; see https://bit.ly/eamtt

And projects bridging EA, academia, and open science.. see bit.ly/eaprojects

My previous and ongoing research focuses on determinants and motivators of charitable giving (propensity, amounts, and ‘to which cause?’), and drivers of/barriers to effective giving, as well as the impact of pro-social behavior and social preferences on market contexts.

Podcasts: “Found in the Struce” https://anchor.fm/david-reinstein

and the EA Forum podcast: https://anchor.fm/ea-forum-podcast (co-founder, regular reader)

Twitter: @givingtools

david_reinstein Jan 6, 2025, 7:59 PM
4 points
0 ∶ 0
on: Cultured meat: A comparison of techno-economic analyses
By the way, you wrote “we also plan to hire external experts to red-team our analysis and check for relevant flaws post-publication.”

Did you ever implement that?

david_reinstein Jan 6, 2025, 11:22 AM
2 points
0 ∶ 0
on: Announcing: Audio narrations of EA Forum posts

Fwiw some human-narrated episodes can still be listened to at

The earlier Spotify EA Forum podcast link

and also some on my earlier podcast “Found in The Struce”

david_reinstein Jan 6, 2025, 11:21 AM
2 points
0 ∶ 0
on: The EA Forum Podcast is up and running
Fwiw these human-narrated episodes (of older posts, some still relevant, I think) can be found at

The earlier Spotify EA Forum podcast link

And also some on my earlier podcast “Found in The Struce”

david_reinstein Dec 30, 2024, 7:32 PM
4 points
0 ∶ 0
on: “Pivotal questions”: an Unjournal trial initiative
Quick update: we’ve received some funding to move forward with this on a trial basis. We’re likely to focus on only a few organizations and pivotal questions/claims (maybe 2-3 of each; perhaps one in each of three cause areas GH&D, Animal Welfare, innovation or GCR).

I think the key cruxes are

1. Will very high-impact organizations engage and respond to our reports? (Some good signs already)
2. Will the highest-value pivotal questions actually be informed by formal research that is in our scope for evaluation?

david_reinstein Dec 30, 2024, 7:15 PM
5 points
0 ∶ 0
on: Meaningfully reducing meat consumption is an unsolved problem: meta-analysis
I’ll add this to the papers The Unjournal is considering evaluating. It seems potentially high-value and influential. Please let us know if there is a more recent version than the one linked here.

Unjournal evaluating 1+ research output per relevant ~EA-funded organization: next steps

david_reinsteinDec 29, 2024, 7:36 PM

30 points

3 comments3 min readEA link

david_reinstein Dec 22, 2024, 4:57 PM
2 points
1 ∶ 0
in reply to: David_R 🔸’s comment on: Should I tell my clients I donated 10% of what they paid me?
Good but I don’t quite see the logic of “ it has been such a pleasure working with you that I feel the need to give back to the less fortunate”. How does one follow from the other?

david_reinstein Dec 21, 2024, 11:58 AM
2 points
0 ∶ 0
on: ACX/EA Lisbon December 2024 Meetup
Okay, it was a time zone mixup. I guess I’ll see you here at 3 pm?

david_reinstein Dec 21, 2024, 11:03 AM
8 points
3 ∶ 1
on: Should I tell my clients I donated 10% of what they paid me?
Probably depends on how you describe it and frame it. How do you explain why you are telling them this? If you’re willing, you might do a trial on this. Do something like divide your clients into two random groups and send this message to half. See if you observe any difference (try to keep track of the numbers as well as the more qualitative outcomes like how they respond to the card)

david_reinstein Dec 21, 2024, 10:48 AM
2 points
0 ∶ 0
on: ACX/EA Lisbon December 2024 Meetup
I think I’m at the EAACX meeting point in Amalia Rodriguez Park. I’m near the statue of two women kissing. (O segredo). Has the event moved or am I just the first one here? I think I’ll go to the café now and get something to eat and wait to hear from anyone.

david_reinstein Dec 21, 2024, 10:41 AM
2 points
0 ∶ 0
in reply to: david_reinstein’s comment on: ACX/EA Lisbon December 2024 Meetup
Wait, it’s hard to know which hill this refers to

david_reinstein Dec 21, 2024, 10:33 AM
2 points
0 ∶ 0
on: ACX/EA Lisbon December 2024 Meetup
I’m a ok at at the linha dagua cafe. Is everyone on the hill?

Legal scholarship: Is it high-impact? Should Unjournal evaluate it? Call for participation/scoping

david_reinsteinDec 19, 2024, 10:44 PM

9 points

2 comments7 min readEA link

david_reinstein Dec 19, 2024, 12:51 AM
2 points
0 ∶ 0
in reply to: david_reinstein’s comment on: Introducing the Legal Priorities Project
Ok I see it’s moved to a new name

david_reinstein Dec 17, 2024, 11:31 PM
4 points
0 ∶ 0
on: Introducing the Legal Priorities Project
Is this project still active/live? The links above are dead. I’d be eager to see the agenda, and maybe help revive it.

david_reinstein Dec 10, 2024, 12:29 AM
8 points
3 ∶ 1
in reply to: Ozzie Gooen’s comment on: Ozzie Gooen’s Shortform
Quick thought. Maybe people anticipate this being blocked by governments because it “seems like playing god” etc. I know that would be hypocritical given the breeding already used to make them overweight etc. But it seems to be the way a lot of people see this.

david_reinstein Dec 9, 2024, 4:39 AM
10 points
0 ∶ 0
on: List of orgs/people funded by ~EA to do research?
Here’s a take, just using Open Phil data and my ad-hoc judgment, as a start:

As a filterable Coda table

david_reinstein Dec 9, 2024, 3:56 AM
4 points
0 ∶ 0
in reply to: Vasco Grilo🔸’s comment on: List of orgs/people funded by ~EA to do research?
That’s helpful as some of these are relevant. (But I’m looking for a list of ‘orgs funded to do research’.)

david_reinstein Dec 7, 2024, 9:57 PM
2 points
0 ∶ 0
on: List of orgs/people funded by ~EA to do research?
https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/pwPbQPv8EL9piJRfa/effectivealtruismdata-com-is-now-a-spreadsheet

@Hamish McDoodles would this be a good source for answering this question?

david_reinstein Dec 7, 2024, 9:57 PM
2 points
0 ∶ 0
in reply to: Ben Millwood🔸’s comment on: List of orgs/people funded by ~EA to do research?
Thanks, my bad. Should have gone to https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/N3hsGxSPNMQS4wADy/should-the-unjournal-evaluate-1-research-outputs-per

Now fixed

david_reinstein

Un­jour­nal eval­u­at­ing 1+ re­search out­put per rele­vant ~EA-funded or­ga­ni­za­tion: next steps

Le­gal schol­ar­ship: Is it high-im­pact? Should Un­jour­nal eval­u­ate it? Call for par­ti­ci­pa­tion/​scoping

Unjournal evaluating 1+ research output per relevant ~EA-funded organization: next steps

Legal scholarship: Is it high-impact? Should Unjournal evaluate it? Call for participation/scoping