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A review by synoptic_view
10th Anniversary Edition the Life You Can Save: How to Do Your Part to End World Poverty by Peter Singer
4.0
I read this partly for work and partly for myself. I have been aware of Singer's arguments for many years, but I was curious to read the "novel length treatment." I found the book to be a readable, convincing, and compelling argument for giving substantial aid to the world's poorest people.
Through my job, I am already well-acquainted with lots of the philosophy, psychology, and economics research Singer presents. Still, the book provided a helpful impetus to revisit my own giving, and I think anyone would benefit from regularly thinking through the arguments it presents. The 10th anniversary edition was particularly interesting to read because it has an expanded section responding to common critiques of the book's arguments, and it has updated its discussion of effective charities. This last update is particularly important. Over the last few years, there has been tremendous improvement and growth in highly effective charities for reducing global poverty and saving lives. For me personally, GiveDirectly has been particularly crucial.
GiveDirectly does what the name suggests--it provides direct cash transfers to poor households, (currently) in Morocco, Malawi, Kenya, Rwanda, Liberia, Togo, DRC, and the United States. It also conducts rigorous evaluations of the effectiveness of its programs as well as possible alternative programs like job training. The combination of transparency, simplicity, evaluation, and impact reassures me that my donations to GiveDirectly are worthwhile and that if the organization discovers they are not, that it will change what it was doing to make the donations worthwhile. If you are at all on the fence about Singer's argument from a practical point of you--for instance, if you believe that it is impossible to effectively give money to extremely poor people around the world--I strongly encourage you to check out GiveDirectly and charity evaluators like GiveWell. (Parochially, it also helps that many of the economists involved with GiveDirectly, including the co-founder Paul Neihaus, were my professors in grad school at UCSD.)
Two surprises while reading the book: First, I hadn't realized that in the initial version of the book, Singer advocated for not giving direct cash transfers to the world's poorest people. It was research by the GiveDirectly team after the publication of the book that led him to change his mind. Second, I was not previously familiar with the research showing that publicly stating one's own giving helps encourage other people to give. This second one maybe shouldn't be a surprise. It is similar to things like salary discussions with your coworkers. We are uncomfortable doing it, but research tells us that it can lead to more equitable workplaces and higher morale.
In that spirit, I currently give 4.8% of household annual income to GiveDirectly and 0.2% to Wikimedia. I also give small amounts (each less than 0.1% of income) to other causes in different years depending on what I think is a priority. This meets Singer's 5% target, which is coincidental. I arrived at it from taking 1/2 of a tithe, because my wife also gives a similar amount each year to charities of her choice.
I only recently got to this level of giving. "The Life You Can Save" has some practical advice that I have happened to follow. "Instead of worrying about how much you would have to do to live a fully ethical life, do something that is significantly more than you have been doing so far. See how that feels. If it feels good, keep doing it, or challenge yourself to do a little more. Try to set a new personal best in your giving." I have found it easier to give larger amounts by setting up recurring monthly donations that I ratchet up once a year or so.
Through my job, I am already well-acquainted with lots of the philosophy, psychology, and economics research Singer presents. Still, the book provided a helpful impetus to revisit my own giving, and I think anyone would benefit from regularly thinking through the arguments it presents. The 10th anniversary edition was particularly interesting to read because it has an expanded section responding to common critiques of the book's arguments, and it has updated its discussion of effective charities. This last update is particularly important. Over the last few years, there has been tremendous improvement and growth in highly effective charities for reducing global poverty and saving lives. For me personally, GiveDirectly has been particularly crucial.
GiveDirectly does what the name suggests--it provides direct cash transfers to poor households, (currently) in Morocco, Malawi, Kenya, Rwanda, Liberia, Togo, DRC, and the United States. It also conducts rigorous evaluations of the effectiveness of its programs as well as possible alternative programs like job training. The combination of transparency, simplicity, evaluation, and impact reassures me that my donations to GiveDirectly are worthwhile and that if the organization discovers they are not, that it will change what it was doing to make the donations worthwhile. If you are at all on the fence about Singer's argument from a practical point of you--for instance, if you believe that it is impossible to effectively give money to extremely poor people around the world--I strongly encourage you to check out GiveDirectly and charity evaluators like GiveWell. (Parochially, it also helps that many of the economists involved with GiveDirectly, including the co-founder Paul Neihaus, were my professors in grad school at UCSD.)
Two surprises while reading the book: First, I hadn't realized that in the initial version of the book, Singer advocated for not giving direct cash transfers to the world's poorest people. It was research by the GiveDirectly team after the publication of the book that led him to change his mind. Second, I was not previously familiar with the research showing that publicly stating one's own giving helps encourage other people to give. This second one maybe shouldn't be a surprise. It is similar to things like salary discussions with your coworkers. We are uncomfortable doing it, but research tells us that it can lead to more equitable workplaces and higher morale.
In that spirit, I currently give 4.8% of household annual income to GiveDirectly and 0.2% to Wikimedia. I also give small amounts (each less than 0.1% of income) to other causes in different years depending on what I think is a priority. This meets Singer's 5% target, which is coincidental. I arrived at it from taking 1/2 of a tithe, because my wife also gives a similar amount each year to charities of her choice.
I only recently got to this level of giving. "The Life You Can Save" has some practical advice that I have happened to follow. "Instead of worrying about how much you would have to do to live a fully ethical life, do something that is significantly more than you have been doing so far. See how that feels. If it feels good, keep doing it, or challenge yourself to do a little more. Try to set a new personal best in your giving." I have found it easier to give larger amounts by setting up recurring monthly donations that I ratchet up once a year or so.