Moral weights in the developing world — IDinsight’s Beneficiary Preferences Project

Abstract

Even armed with the best intentions and evidence, donors who consider themselves to be members of the effective altruism (EA) community must make a moral choice about what “doing the most good” actually means — for example, whether it’s better to save one life or lift many people out of poverty. Alice Redfern, a manager at IDinsight, discusses the organization’s “Beneficiary Preferences Project,” which involved gathering data on the moral preferences of individuals who receive aid funding. The project could influence how governments and NGOs allocate hundreds of billions of dollars.