Is Effective Altruism Effective?

In the early 21^st century, effective altruism (EA), a philosophical and social movement developing ideas of classical utilitarianism, started to gain popularity in the USA and European countries. It has attracted followers from various fields, including philosophers, economists, entrepreneurs, and philanthropists. As its name implies, effectiveness (maximum benefit) of actions taken serves as the bedrock for the EA movement. But how high is this effectiveness really? To assess it, the author of the article suggests addressing the crucial issue of EA – helping the world’s poorest countries. This problem also occupies a central place in development economics, a branch of economics that is closest to EA and aimed at helping the poorest countries and their inhabitants. In this regard, the article compares the key approaches to effectiveness in development economics. It is concluded that effectiveness is understood in different ways and it is often achieved by opposite tools. To demonstrate the logic leading to such discrepancies, the author of the article identifies a number of criteria that allow, with a certain degree of convention, combining the theories into several groups: idealists (Thomas Pogge, Jeffrey Sachs), missionaries (Paul Romer, Paul Collier), fatalists (Daron Acemoglu, James Robinson), and realists (William Easterly, Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo). The author comes to the conclusion that EA is not a magic cure for all diseases, but only one of the possible tools for solving world problems. And although it is impossible to talk about its global effectiveness, in particular aspects it is effective, which indicates the development of general utilitarian ethics. 

Keywords: effective altruism, development economics, global resources dividend, poverty trap, charter city, randomized controlled trial, inclusive institutions, extractive institutions