Altruism and positive change

  Billionaires like Warren Buffet has pledged most of their wealth to charity

It is Great since

  • Most wealth is created by individual action and initiative, e.g., Rockefeller made his fortune from moving oil cheaply
  • Rarely this wealth is used well by their successors, e.g., 85% billionaires did not inherit their wealth
  • It reduces the glaring inequality of wealth that might become political rallying point

Shortcomings of altruism

  • Problems of most people are structural and will not be fixed by altruism, e.g., Institutional weakness, corruption, ethnic conflict etc.
  • Altruism is far and few and is often not aimed at evidence backed policy interventions, e.g., water and sanitation
 While individual altruism is great, reforms that truly make changes need collective will, like democracy, stable government, trust in institutions etc.

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