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TrickBlack comments on Giving What We Can, 80,000 Hours, and Meta-Charity - Less Wrong
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I'm interested to hear what you think is more important in terms of making a difference - the money or the job. Some jobs (teacher, social worker) which can have quite an impact can also have low salaries - teaching in particular is under political attack in the United States. Such jobs don't allow for as much donation to charity. On the other hand, there are jobs with high salaries (say, in the business and corporate world) which make a low or potentially negative impact, but have a larger salary which they could donate to charity.
There are of course jobs which fall under both categories - the medical profession in particular can be quite well-paying while making a very positive impact. Unfortunately, not everyone who wants to make a difference can be (or wants to be) a doctor (I believe that enjoying your job is very important for various reasons, but that's a matter for another day).
So what's better - more teachers dedicated to helping their students towards the future, or more Warren Buffetts? If you had to ask each of a million people to donate to only one of your charities, which would you advocate for?
A Warren Buffet donating a small fraction to efficient charity has a positive impact several orders of magnitude above a teacher. It would be awesome win if we could take thousands of teachers and turn them into Buffets. The reality however is that most teachers aren't capable of this. To build a good case I suggest you sit down and do the math of the measured life gains students get from good teachers vs the gains of mediocre white collar professionals giving the extra money they earn beyond the teacher salary to efficient charity.
If you didn't become a teacher someone else would. If you didn't donate to charity there's no-one who would fill in your place. Hence, you should donate to charity and not become a teacher.
As an aside, I'd like to see evidence that teachers or social workers have much impact, even ignoring replacability concerns.
I'd also like to see evidence that Buffets don't have a significant social impact through the work they do. Successful companies create valued products, jobs, etc. and depend on investment. On the other hand, they may also make income inequality different and hence lead to less efficient allocations of resources in terms of quality of life. Anyone know a good starting point for reading about this?