In his new book The Most Good You Can Do, Peter Singer argues that a morally decent life involves giving a significant portion of one’s income to alleviating global poverty, and that this giving ought to go to the most effective organizations. Effectiveness, for Singer, is to be measured through randomized control trials that test the value of development interventions. Singer believes that morality requires us to give to those organizations that will do the most good.
As a number of commentators have pointed out, Singer’s “effective altruism” has considerable limitations. It is largely insensitive to the political economy of development, and it is insensitive to the degree to which growth in the nongovernmental sector displaces (on both the demand and supply sides) government provision of basic services. Worse, large-scale giving may protect autocrats from the democratic demands of their citizens. And it is difficult, if not impossible, to evaluate the effectiveness of large organizations like Oxfam, or organizations that do not deliver discrete programs, such as Global Witness or Human Rights Watch. Furthermore, even if a development intervention is shown to be effective in one place, it is uncertain whether it will work well in different economic and social circumstances.
But Singer’s argument—that affluent individuals have moral duties to people living in material and social deprivation—is nonetheless compelling. These duties may arise from a basic common humanity, where the brute fact of human suffering is a compelling moral reason to assist others. Or they may arise from duties of justice, where historical and contemporary institutional arrangements have caused global poverty to some extent, which generates duties of rectification and compensation.
So, if you are living in an affluent society and persuaded that one ought to join efforts to reduce global poverty, and that this is not best (or at least exclusively) done through “effective altruism,” what should you do?
First, reduce harm. While many of the problems that plague institutions in developing countries are local in nature, the public policies of affluent countries often exacerbate institutional problems and deter progress in poverty reduction. The arms trade continues to flood conflict zones and oppressive governments with ever more powerful weapons. Financial and political support for autocrats continues to undermine efforts at democratization. Excessive barriers to migration prevent low-income individuals from pursuing a better life.
Second, provide global public goods. The provision of such goods will benefit all of humanity, but especially people in low-income countries. Sadly, even though it would be possible to produce such goods with a limited number of participants, they are woefully underprovided today. For example, affluent countries could pay to incentivize the development of medicines that treat neglected diseases, or fund the creation of low-cost, low-carbon energy technologies. The development of improved agricultural technologies also has great promise for development outcomes. Peacekeeping operations, although far from perfect, have a broadly positive impact, and continue to be underfunded.
Third, ensure that public policies in developed countries are “institution enhancing” in developing ones. For example, when purchasing natural resources from developing countries, developed states should require that purchases are completed transparently, which will increase the ability of citizens in the resource-exporting countries to track how revenue is spent. Trade agreements should include protections for labor rights and the environment. And foreign aid must be provided in a way that enhances rather than undermines accountability between citizens and their state.
Randomized control trials of the sort Singer argues for can offer promising, and needed, new evidence regarding the effectiveness of anti-poverty programs. But the struggle against global poverty requires a broader focus than on individual charitable donations alone. Active citizens must reform public policies of powerful countries that deter progress in poverty eradication.