Decal Econ Tools for Effective Altruists
Facilitator: Trevor Woolley (trevor_woolley@berkeley.edu)
Faculty Sponsor: Edward Miguel (emiguel@berkeley.edy)
Course Description:
Prerequisites: None
The purpose of this course is to inform students how they can “do good” in as effective a way
as possible with their careers, especially within economics and related fields (including, but not
limited to, CS, epidemiology, political science, neuroscience, and even biochemistry). The
course combines practical lessons from economics with theoretical concepts from the
philosophy of ethics in order to equip students with introductory skills that can help them
identify and work toward solving some of the world’s most pressing problems. “Effective
altruism” is a growing, interdisciplinary movement centered around the question of how we can
help others as much as possible given the resources available. Applying the economic concepts
of efficiency to the domain of morality, effective altruists aim not just to make the world better,
but to make it as good as possible. What that means in practice is a very difficult question to
answer. show less