Fran Quigley (Indiana): For Goodness’ Sake: A Two-Part Proposal for Remedying the U.S. Charity/Justice Imbalance. What are billionaires for? Look around at our charitable causes, and you’ll see the public good packaged as one continual study in billionaire self-portraiture. From Vox, you have $8 billion and you want to do as much good as possible — what do you do?; Zack Beauchamp on the most persuasive case for giving more money to lifesaving charities — and it’s written from perspective of a frat bro; and Dylan Matthews spent a weekend at Google talking with nerds about charity — he came away worried (and a response). Mathew Snow is against charity: Rather than creating an individualized “culture of giving”, we should be challenging capitalism’s institutionalized taking. Dwight Garner reviews Strangers Drowning: Grappling with Impossible Idealism, Drastic Choices, and the Overpowering Urge to Help by Larissa MacFarquhar. Facebook adds “Donate Now” button to make giving to charity easier.
From The Washington Post’s In Theory, a series on effective altruism: A primer. Tyler Cowen on effective altruism, where charity and rationality meet. Iason Gabriel (Oxford): What’s Wrong With Effective Altruism? Emily Clough on effective altruism’s political blind spot. James Snowden on why effective altruism used to be like evidence-based medicine — but isn’t anymore. Amia Srinivasan reviews Doing Good Better: Effective Altruism and a Radical New Way to Make a Difference by William MacAskill (and more). Felix Salmon reviews Smart Money: How High-Stakes Financial Innovation is Reshaping Our World — For the Better by Andrew Palmer and How to Be Great at Doing Good: Why Results are What Count and How Smart Charity can Change the World by Nick Cooney.
