DR

david_reinstein

Founder and Co-Director @ The Unjournal
3912 karmaJoined Working (15+ years)Monson, MA, USA

Bio

See davidreinstein.org

I'm the Founder and Co-director of The Unjournal;. W  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

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Project Idea: 'Cost to save a life' interactive calculator promotion


What about making and promoting a ‘how much does it cost to save a life’ quiz and calculator.

 This could be adjustable/customizable (in my country, around the world, of an infant/child/adult, counting ‘value added life years’ etc.) … and trying to make it go viral (or at least bacterial) as in the ‘how rich am I’ calculator? 


The case 

  1. People might really be interested in this… it’s super-compelling (a bit click-baity, maybe, but the payoff is not click bait)!
  2. May make some news headlines too (it’s an “easy story” for media people, asks a question people can engage with, etc. … ’how much does it cost to save a life? find out after the break!)
  3. if people do think it’s much cheaper than it is, as some studies suggest, it would probably be good to change this conception… to help us build a reality-based impact-based evidence-based community and society of donors
  4. similarly, it could get people thinking about ‘how to really measure impact’ --> consider EA-aligned evaluations more seriously

While GiveWell has a page with a lot of tech details, but it’s not compelling or interactive  in the way I suggest above, and I doubt  they market it heavily.

GWWC probably doesn't have the design/engineering time for this (not to mention refining this for accuracy and communication).  But if someone else (UX design, research support, IT) could do the legwork I think they might be very happy to host it. 

It could also mesh well with academic-linked research so I may have  some ‘Meta academic support ads’ funds that could work with this.
 

Tags/backlinks (~testing out this new feature) 
@GiveWell  @Giving What We Can
Projects I'd like to see 

EA Projects I'd Like to See 
 Idea: Curated database of quick-win tangible, attributable projects 

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?

Okay, it was a time zone mixup. I guess I’ll see you here at 3 pm?

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)

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.

Wait, it’s hard to know which hill this refers to

I'm a ok at at the linha dagua cafe. Is everyone on the hill?

Is this project still active/live? The links above are dead. I'd be eager to see the agenda, and maybe help revive it.

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.

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