andrew_gelman_stats andrew_gelman_stats-2012 andrew_gelman_stats-2012-1623 knowledge-graph by maker-knowledge-mining
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Introduction: In a rare Christmas-themed post here, I pass along this note from Alexander Berger at GiveWell : We just published a blog post following up on the *other* famous piece of evidence for deworming, the Miguel and Kremer experiment from Kenya. They shared data and code from their working paper (!) follow-up finding that deworming increases incomes ten years later, and we came out of the re-analysis feeling more confident in, though not wholly convinced by, the results. We’ve also just released our new list of top charities for giving season this year, which I think might be a good fit for your audience. We wrote a blog post explaining our choices , and have also published extensive reviews of the top charities and the interventions on which they work. Perhaps the most interesting change since last year is the addition of GiveDirectly in the #2 spot; they do direct unconditional cash transfers to people living on less than a dollar a day in Kenya. We think it’s a remarkable mode
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1 ) follow-up finding that deworming increases incomes ten years later, and we came out of the re-analysis feeling more confident in, though not wholly convinced by, the results. [sent-3, score-0.246]
2 We’ve also just released our new list of top charities for giving season this year, which I think might be a good fit for your audience. [sent-4, score-0.332]
3 We wrote a blog post explaining our choices , and have also published extensive reviews of the top charities and the interventions on which they work. [sent-5, score-0.445]
4 We think it’s a remarkable model, with a surprisingly strong track record and the potential to change how international charity is done. [sent-7, score-0.532]
5 For example, Deb and I state in our book that we donate all royalties to nonprofit educational charities (or something like that, I can’t remember the exact words). [sent-12, score-0.345]
6 education, international education, international economic empowerment, and global health). [sent-18, score-0.384]
7 For instance, our 2010 cause overview on international education is here . [sent-19, score-0.502]
8 Over time, we’ve become more and more convinced that global health is an especially promising cause for individual donors. [sent-20, score-0.312]
9 Of course, we agree that there are worthwhile charities working in other areas of international giving, and in the past we’ve recommended Pratham , an Indian education NGO, for donors especially interested in education. [sent-22, score-0.827]
10 We recently de-emphasized the category of “standouts” (where Pratham fell) because they received a relatively small portion of the money given based on our recommendations and we felt that our research time was better-spent in areas we find more promising. [sent-23, score-0.149]
11 Here’s what GiveWell wrote about Pratham: Pratham is a large, India-based organization that runs a wide variety of programs aiming to improve education for children in India. [sent-25, score-0.329]
12 We recommend Pratham as our top recommendation for developing-world education because: - GiveWell staff visited Pratham programs two times in Mumbai, India during the fall of 2010. [sent-30, score-0.434]
13 - Our impression is that Pratham has a strong reputation among people who are familiar with Indian educational organizations. [sent-33, score-0.306]
14 Pratham has a strong reputation among respected international aid scholars such as researchers at the Poverty Action Lab at MIT. [sent-34, score-0.338]
15 4 In addition, several representatives from other charities in India, told us (unsolicited) that they have the impression that Pratham is a strong organization. [sent-35, score-0.441]
16 Programs that intuitively seem effective such as building schools, training teachers or providing textbooks do not have a strong track record of success. [sent-37, score-0.284]
17 (For more on this cause, see our overview of developing-world education programs. [sent-38, score-0.243]
18 ) In a sector with limited evidence about what works, Pratham stands out for having subjected its programs to rigorous trials to determine which approaches are most effective. [sent-39, score-0.218]
19 Nevertheless, for donors interested in the cause of developing-world education, we have found no organization stronger than Pratham. [sent-42, score-0.261]
20 I wanted to share that because I felt that discussion was admirably honest (or, at least, gave the impression of honesty; I haven’t actually tried to evaluate the claims) without hype. [sent-43, score-0.147]
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Introduction: In a rare Christmas-themed post here, I pass along this note from Alexander Berger at GiveWell : We just published a blog post following up on the *other* famous piece of evidence for deworming, the Miguel and Kremer experiment from Kenya. They shared data and code from their working paper (!) follow-up finding that deworming increases incomes ten years later, and we came out of the re-analysis feeling more confident in, though not wholly convinced by, the results. We’ve also just released our new list of top charities for giving season this year, which I think might be a good fit for your audience. We wrote a blog post explaining our choices , and have also published extensive reviews of the top charities and the interventions on which they work. Perhaps the most interesting change since last year is the addition of GiveDirectly in the #2 spot; they do direct unconditional cash transfers to people living on less than a dollar a day in Kenya. We think it’s a remarkable mode
Introduction: Alexander at GiveWell writes : The Disease Control Priorities in Developing Countries (DCP2), a major report funded by the Gates Foundation . . . provides an estimate of $3.41 per disability-adjusted life-year (DALY) for the cost-effectiveness of soil-transmitted-helminth (STH) treatment, implying that STH treatment is one of the most cost-effective interventions for global health. In investigating this figure, we have corresponded, over a period of months, with six scholars who had been directly or indirectly involved in the production of the estimate. Eventually, we were able to obtain the spreadsheet that was used to generate the $3.41/DALY estimate. That spreadsheet contains five separate errors that, when corrected, shift the estimated cost effectiveness of deworming from $3.41 to $326.43. [I think they mean to say $300 -- ed.] We came to this conclusion a year after learning that the DCP2’s published cost-effectiveness estimate for schistosomiasis treatment – another kind of
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