James Snowden

Grantmaker @open_phil (prev @givewell) | public health policy |🔸 I give 10% to effective charities and so can you

[Alexander Berger @albrgr]

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 @jsnwden]

@notanastronomer @paulnovosad I think Vital Strategies has a program like that: https://t.co/EtCSSZwbE5

[Lucia Coulter @luciacoulter]

LEEP is hiring! Hear more about lead poisoning and our work:

[Alex Cohen @alexwcohen]

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. 🧵

[Alexander Berger @albrgr]

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: 🧵
https://t.co/5laLW0w4lo

[Paul Novosad @paulnovosad]

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.

[Jacob Trefethen @JacobTref]

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! https://t.co/pJpPzZToX5

MDGH won a Priority Review Voucher in 2018, which helped fund development:

[Lee Crawfurd @leecrawfurd]

Microplastics and PFAS Are Dominating Headlines, But Lead is Probably Worse

https://t.co/3YbeGjmFZi

[Rafe Meager (they/them) @economeager]

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.

[Dr. Tom Frieden @DrTomFrieden]

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 @jsnwden]

@ChaunceyGardner @IzzyBackman @GraceKongPhD @dhirajmurthy @DrDeepaCamenga @NIH @CDCgov OK, found it (though 2012 doesn't quite line up with yours; maybe a slightly different cut?). Still quite a compelling story imo, but more complicated as e-cigs spiked in several years without offsetting cigs

[James Snowden @jsnwden]

@ChaunceyGardner @IzzyBackman @GraceKongPhD @dhirajmurthy @DrDeepaCamenga @NIH @CDCgov Any chance you know what the 2013-2021 data looks like? I couldn't quickly find it plotted and seems important to interpret this chart

[Alexander Berger @albrgr]

Very cool RCT finding that an air pollution restriction market in India reduced pollution and compliance costs: https://t.co/hxRbgczXjg h/t @jsnwden

[James Snowden @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

[Lee Crawfurd @leecrawfurd]

Important new study on lead in turmeric across South Asia - particularly high levels in Patna, Karachi, and Peshawar

https://t.co/GUMgkA1CYY

[James Snowden @jsnwden]

Link: https://t.co/nwGHW00gA8

(Haven't vetted)

[James Snowden @jsnwden]

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

[Deena Mousa (SF June 22-26) @deenamousa]

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.🧵

[James Snowden @jsnwden]

@GwynethMiner @mushfiq_econ @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 @jsnwden]

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!

[Deena Mousa (SF June 22-26) @deenamousa]

Great paper on whether conditional unemployment benefits can encourage rural-urban migration in LMICs:

The treatment resulted in a 200% increase in the probability of moving to Nairobi vs the control (and fared better than unconditional cash transfers)

[William MacAskill @willmacaskill]

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... 🧵

https://t.co/cmgrDkxSku