david_reinstein
Bio
I'm the Founder and Co-director of The Unjournal; We 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
Posts 60
Comments835
Topic contributions9
I just updated it (same link) to include a much larger set of papers. The 'other' category now includes papers we may not yet have prioritized, may have deprioritized somewhat (but still found interesting), or may have set aside for other reasons (e.g., slightly outside our scope, not timely for evaluation as part of our model, etc.)
Now grouped by main outcome/cause/field cluster.
Sadly, my instincts on foreign aid seem to have been correct, at least if the 90-day suspension is a sign of things.
Also sadly, Perplexity seems to have been accurate in predicting the attempt to undermine state legislation on welfare standards.
Update: currently exploring this within a small team. We're trying to gauge interest & the capacity for this, as well as propose an approach.
Would still love to get more feedback from ~established legal scholars, lawyers who engage with research, and law students involved with legal journals.
One question in particular: would legal scholars would you be interested in doing this public peer-review/rating of work in your area, with modest compensation (~$450), and what would motivate them?
If you fall into this category you can register your interest and leave thoughts at bit.ly/UJlegalEOI (a quick survey) or DM me if you prefer.
I proposed something related to this, trying to get around some of the issues you mention above. Essentially, a way to have your employer re-purpose some of your salary towards an external charity.
Thanks @barkbellowroar! Responding in this Gdoc for organization; will probably excerpt back into this EA Forum thread too.
Fwiw some human-narrated episodes can still be listened to at
The earlier Spotify EA Forum podcast link
and also some on my earlier podcast "Found in The Struce"
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
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