Elie Hassenfeld, Co-founder and CEO of GiveWell, dives into the transformative power of charitable giving. He discusses how spending on others often brings more happiness than spending on oneself. The conversation highlights effective charities and the importance of transparency in philanthropy. They explore the psychological barriers to giving and the evolving landscape of charitable contributions. Hassenfeld shares insights on empowering individuals through targeted donations, showcasing how strategic giving can make a real difference.

GiveWell is one of the world's best-known charity evaluators, with the goal of "searching for the charities that save or improve lives the most per dollar." It mostly recommends projects that help the world's poorest people avoid easily prevented diseases, like intestinal worms or vitamin A deficiency.But should GiveWell, as some critics argue, take a totally different approach to its search, focusing instead on directly increasing subjective wellbeing, or alternatively, raising economic growth?Today's guest — cofounder and CEO of GiveWell, Elie Hassenfeld — is proud of how much GiveWell has grown in the last five years. Its 'money moved' has quadrupled to around $600 million a year.Its research team has also more than doubled, enabling them to investigate a far broader range of interventions that could plausibly help people an enormous amount for each dollar spent. That work has led GiveWell to support dozens of new organisations, such as Kangaroo Mother Care, MiracleFeet, and Dispensers for Safe Water.But some other researchers focused on figuring out the best ways to help the world's poorest people say GiveWell shouldn't just do more of the same thing, but rather ought to look at the problem differently.Links to learn more, summary and full transcript.Currently, GiveWell uses a range of metrics to track the impact of the organisations it considers recommending — such as 'lives saved,' 'household incomes doubled,' and for health improvements, the 'quality-adjusted life year.' The Happier Lives Institute (HLI) has argued that instead, GiveWell should try to cash out the impact of all interventions in terms of improvements in subjective wellbeing. This philosophy has led HLI to be more sceptical of interventions that have been demonstrated to improve health, but whose impact on wellbeing has not been measured, and to give a high priority to improving lives relative to extending them.An alternative high-level critique is that really all that matters in the long run is getting the economies of poor countries to grow. On this view, GiveWell should focus on figuring out what causes some countries to experience explosive economic growth while others fail to, or even go backwards. Even modest improvements in the chances of such a 'growth miracle' will likely offer a bigger bang-for-buck than funding the incremental delivery of deworming tablets or vitamin A supplements, or anything else.Elie sees where both of these critiques are coming from, and notes that they've influenced GiveWell's work in some ways. But as he explains, he thinks they underestimate the practical difficulty of successfully pulling off either approach and finding better opportunities than what GiveWell funds today. In today's in-depth conversation, Elie and host Rob Wiblin cover the above, as well as:Why GiveWell flipped from not recommending chlorine dispensers as an intervention for safe drinking water to spending tens of millions of dollars on themWhat transferable lessons GiveWell learned from investigating different kinds of interventionsWhy the best treatment for premature babies in low-resource settings may involve less rather than more medicine.Severe malnourishment among children and what can be done about it.How to deal with hidden and non-obvious costs of a programmeSome cheap early treatments that can prevent kids from developing lifelong disabilitiesThe various roles GiveWell is currently hiring for, and what's distinctive about their organisational cultureAnd much more.Chapters:Rob’s intro (00:00:00)The interview begins (00:03:14)GiveWell over the last couple of years (00:04:33)Dispensers for Safe Water (00:11:52)Syphilis diagnosis for pregnant women via technical assistance (00:30:39)Kangaroo Mother Care (00:48:47)Multiples of cash (01:01:20)Hidden costs (01:05:41)MiracleFeet (01:09:45)Serious malnourishment among young children (01:22:46)Vitamin A deficiency and supplementation (01:40:42)The subjective wellbeing approach in contrast with GiveWell's approach (01:46:31)The value of saving a life when that life is going to be very difficult (02:09:09)Whether economic policy is what really matters overwhelmingly (02:20:00)Careers at GiveWell (02:39:10)Donations (02:48:58)Parenthood (02:50:29)Rob’s outro (02:55:05)Producer: Keiran HarrisAudio mastering: Simon Monsour and Ben CordellTranscriptions: Katy Moore

Elie Hassenfeld, Co-founder and CEO of GiveWell, discusses the challenges of evaluating charities and balancing quantitative and qualitative factors. They also explore the concepts of crowding out and crowding in, and the importance of maintaining good judgment alongside quantification.

Join Dr. Laurie Santos, a Yale psychologist and host of The Happiness Lab, and Elie Hassenfeld, co-founder and CEO of GiveWell, as they delve into the surprising joy of giving. Discover how spending on others boosts your happiness more than spending on yourself. Learn about impactful charities and the effectiveness of small donations. The conversation also highlights the psychology of generosity, challenges in effective philanthropy, and the unique contributions from the poker community to charitable causes. Tune in for insights that could transform your approach to giving!

Elie Hassenfeld, co-founder of GiveWell, discusses effective altruism, finding impactful charities without breaking the bank, and the internal change that occurs when giving money away.