Grantmaker @open_phil (prev @givewell) | public health policy |🔸 I give 10% to effective charities and so can you https://xitter.cf/t.co/ftlmteTHkB
Joined November 2023
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James Snowden retweeted
After more than a decade of procrastinating, this week I finally filled out the paperwork (ok, webform) to pledge to give at least 10% of my income to effective charities for the rest of my career. 🧵
James Snowden retweeted
LEEP is hiring! Hear more about lead poisoning and our work:
This quoted post is unavailable.
James Snowden retweeted
GiveWell has directed over $1 billion to our top charities. Recently, we red-teamed our research to identify blind spots and areas for improvement in the grants we’ve made. Here’s what we found — and what it means for our work going forward. 🧵
James Snowden retweeted
I just got the kids down for naptime so I wanted to take a second to point out two key problems (and a few areas of agreement) I see with this morning’s @emmabgo @nytimes article about effective altruism: 🧵
xitter.cf/nytimes/status/1865409…
Effective altruism, the recent trend in philanthropy, has been to look for the most bang for your buck. Maybe you don’t have to, Emma Goldberg argues. nyti.ms/3DduIBU
James Snowden retweeted
Last, this is why descriptive work is underrated.
No preposterous IV, no incomprehensible structural model, just a new fact about the world.
If the descriptive work is done well — and it is not easy — the fact permanently enters everyone's headspace and must be contended with.
James Snowden retweeted
25 years in the making, final 10 led by @MedicinesDev. Long slog of drug development. Finally moxi is approved for river blindness in a country where people get river blindness! medicinesdevelopment.com/new…
MDGH won a Priority Review Voucher in 2018, which helped fund development:
Next blog post: want to make drugs to benefit people in lower income countries, but don’t know how to finance the clinical trials?
Tell investors you’ll win a Priority Review Voucher if you succeed: blog.jacobtrefethen.com/how-…
James Snowden retweeted
Microplastics and PFAS Are Dominating Headlines, But Lead is Probably Worse
cgdev.org/blog/microplastics…
James Snowden retweeted
We still have a relatively poor understanding of the relationship between research and policy. Program evaluation in particular is often motivated by a desire to make policy better. But how effective is program evaluation itself? Michelle Rao's JMP tackles this question.
James Snowden retweeted
A litmus test for making American healthier is whether the government pursues proven strategies to stop the known and leading causes of most chronic disease: tobacco, alcohol, junk food, and air pollution.
James Snowden retweeted
Very cool RCT finding that an air pollution restriction market in India reduced pollution and compliance costs: wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint… h/t @jsnwden
Impressive work from Jenna Forsyth et al. following up from eliminating lead in turmeric in Bangladesh to identify other hotspots. Patna stands out, and our grantee @PureEarthNow is working in Bihar to mitigate the problem. The lead exposure research -> policy link is humming atm
Important new study on lead in turmeric across South Asia - particularly high levels in Patna, Karachi, and Peshawar
sciencedirect.com/science/ar…
Yet another new lead exposure survey published today finds half of children have elevated blood lead levels (>5ug/dl). This time in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Both tragic, and ~exactly the estimated average for LMICs
James Snowden retweeted
Inspired by this viral meme about DOGE: Research the US government has supported that can be made to sound silly, but that has contributed to human progress.
Valuable work can often be framed as absurd out of context. That doesn’t make funding research any less important.🧵
Interesting study from @GwynethMiner finds offering unemployment benefits of ~$4/day caused 11% of people to migrate from rural Kenya to Nairobi, and mostly work. I'm surprised more people didn't just turn up to collect the benefit. @mushfiq_econ thought you might like this!
@mushfiq_econ ha, of course you've already seen it. Curious if any thoughts on how cost-effectiveness could compare to No Lean Season?
James Snowden retweeted
Happy Birthday to @givingwhatwecan, which turns 15 today! 🥳
When @tobyordoxford and I started GWWC 15 years ago, we had just 23 members, each of us pledging at least 10% of our income to effective charities until we retire.
Now, over 9,000 people have taken this pledge... 🧵
givingwhatwecan.org
James Snowden retweeted
We're hiring a Senior Communications Officer at @open_phil — if you're excited about making complex ideas accessible (esp. in AI, science & global health), and care deeply about improving the world, I'd love to hear from you! [link to apply below]
James Snowden retweeted
GiveWell revisited its cost-effectiveness estimate of GiveDirectly unconditional cash transfers: we think they're 3-4x more CE than we'd previously estimated, & about ~30-40% as CE as our marginal funding opps.
Blog: blog.givewell.org/2024/11/12…
Main analysis: givewell.org/international/t…
