Book Review: The Life You Can Save, by Peter Singer

The Life You Can Save is essential reading for anyone who works in the social sector. Many social entrepreneurs find it demoralizing to be told that forgoing a lucrative private sector job to work for a low-paying but morally rewarding nonprofit or social business is irrational because it doesn't seem aligned with self-interest. Singer challenges the premise that we all work in blind pursuit of our own goals. Reading his book reminded me that many people work for little money but big “soul dollar” bonuses because what really seems irrational is living in a world of such stark economic disparity and not taking action to fix it.

Too much money, Singer argues, is spent on enhancing the lives of the already well-to-do while nearly 10 million children die each year from preventable causes such as diarrhea, measles and malaria. 1.4 billion people live on less than $1.25 per day, or what the World Bank considers extreme poverty. (Extreme poverty means that you don’t have enough money for adequate food, shelter, clothing, and sanitation.)

Understandably, these figures upset a lot of people. Some people are so bothered that they give a good chunk of their income to social causes. These include not only the mega “philanthrocapitalists” we’ve all heard of, like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, but also Chris and Anne Ellinger (founders of the 50% League), James Hong (founder of the profitable Hot or Not website and, more recently, of 10over100.org), and Tom White, a man who has helped fund Partners in Health since its inception.

Here are some takeaways for social entrepreneurs working on the problem of extreme poverty:

• It’s not irrational to work for the benefit of others. Altruistic behavior is, Singer says, extraordinarily common; do-gooders needn’t feel marginalized. Giving provides gratification and is linked to long-term happiness. So don't
• It doesn't cost much to save a life. Various impact assessments show that it costs between $200 and $2,000 to save a person’s life. Jeffrey Sachs calculated that it would take $189 billion each year to halve the proportion of people living in extreme poverty (about $200 per year for each person living in rich country).
• It’s important to prove your impact. Monitoring groups have an important role to play in how people make charitable contributions—Singer points to studies conducted by MIT’s Poverty Action Lab and a number of watchdog groups including GiveWell that perform efficacy studies on nonprofits, NGOs, and social businesses.