Is Extreme Poverty Being Neglected in the U.S.?
My Princeton colleague Angus Deaton has done us all a service by pointing to the existence of extreme poverty in the United States, and especially the failure o... Read more >
With tax reform, you might want to donate more this year. An expert weighs in on how to give wisely.
Given the large increase in the standard deduction in the tax reform bill just passed by Congress, some Americans may be less likely to itemize for charitable deductions in the 2018 tax year — a prospect that has some nonprofits worried that donations will go down. You might want to donate more this year, before the new rules take effect. But how can you be sure you’re giving to the right cause? Read the full article... Read more >
Giving More Globally, and Less Locally
[Peter Singer] regularly asks inconvenient questions that turn heads inside out. He has spent years making the case that individuals have a moral obligation to do much more for people in faraway places. In “The Most Good You Can Do,” he challenges all of us, once again, to tilt our charitable allocations heavily toward the global and less toward the local. Read the full article... Read more >
Heartwarming causes are nice, but let’s give to charity with our heads
We don’t have to take the word of charitable organizations that the money we give does benefit people in other countries. Technology has made it not only easier to give, but easier to give effectively. Web sites such as GiveWell or my own, The Life You Can Save, offer independent evaluations and can direct people to organizations that do not hand over money to corrupt governments but see that it gets to those who need it. Read the full article... Read more >