[Article] “Yardsticks: how to compare the scale of different social problems” by Benjamin Todd

Note this article was written in 2014 and doesn't fully reflect our views today. What are 'yardsticks', and why use them? In order to compare causes, we want to estimate the value of solving different social problems. The problem is, even if we had a precise notion of what counts as 'value' (for instance, the amount of human welfare created), it's not practical to estimate the effect of solving different problems in these terms, especially if you care about the long-run effects of our actions - it's rarely practical to count how many people benefited from an outcome, or measure how large the benefits are.

Narrated by AI.

---

Outline:

(00:21) What are 'yardsticks', and why use them?

(02:15) What are the properties of a good yardstick?

(02:39) Which yardsticks should we use?

(02:43) To measure short-run impact on welfare

(05:05) The importance of the long-run

(05:38) To measure long-run impact on welfare

(10:48) Non-welfare values

(11:35) Our overall position

(12:29) How robust are our views?

---

First published:
August 20th, 2014

Last updated:
September 26th, 2014

Source:
https://80000hours.org/articles/yardsticks

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---

Images from the article:

Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.