I’m the co-founder and CEO of PolicyEngine, a tech nonprofit that computes the impacts of public policy (policyengine.org). I’m also the founder and president of the UBI Center, a think tank researching universal basic income policies (ubicenter.org).
I first got into EA in 2012: I worked at Google at the time, and Google.org made a grant to GiveDirectly. I’ve since taken the GWWC pledge and focused my giving on GiveDirectly and GiveWell. I was active in Google’s EA group and also MIT’s when I went there for grad school in 2020.
I’m also the founder of Ventura County YIMBY, and a volunteer California state coordinator for Citizens’ Climate Lobby, a grassroots organization advocating for a national carbon fee-and-dividend policy.
Incredible report, bravo! Like probably anyone, I don’t agree completely with the ratings, but the structure and research helped me think through my own priorities. I was already interested in supporting Delaney, so this motivates me to ask more people to give him a donation to get on the debate stage.
I have some minor suggestions, which I left in this copy.
Beyond that, my only non-minor suggestion is to consider mentioning domestic poverty as a (potential) priority area, even if it ends up not included due to the thresholds. Depending on the poverty line, US poverty contributes to some premature deaths, though I haven’t researched what level would be associated with 100,000 per year. Better-designed antipoverty programs could also improve GWP through improved incentives (especially, I’m guessing, with respect to SSDI), though this could be slight.
CSS2 discusses antipoverty programs like UBI and EITC in the budgeting section, though with a different aim. Yang’s UBI isn’t fully funded (I’ve estimated it’d add $1.5T to the annual deficit in static simulation), and other antipoverty proposals like Harris’s LIFT Act also don’t include funding proposals, but I’d consider emphasis to predict antipoverty action.
Another antipoverty bill considered effective by economists is the American Family Act, which is essentially a child dividend. Cash transfers to families with children improve kids’ long-term outcomes (Vox). All 2020 candidates in Congress are cosponsors, and all except Sanders cosponsored its predecessor in the last session. Columbia and Vox have summarized the core antipoverty bills.
Thank you for your stellar work.