DALYs are just a special case of QALYs for which there is very good weighting data available (from the WHO), because they’re linked to well-defined medical conditions and disabilities. Of course one could imagine other, non-health-related interventions that would affect QALYs, but these outcomes are also harder to measure.
I agree. QALY also relate to happiness, whereas DALY’s relate to functioning.
If you are a billionaire, you have a selfish incentive to reduce DALY’s to raise productivity.
QALY’s are altruistic in the truest sense. I feel that should be pivotal in EA, not DALY’s.
Just because someone can function perfectly (no ‘disability’) doesn’t mean there no super depressed and miserable. They, even if they are a millionaire banker, could be a lot worse off than a highly ‘disabled’ quadraplegic from the Ivory Coast.
Doesn’t severe depression have a DALY weight? Of course one could also be miserable for all sorts of reasons without actually being depressed in a medical sense, and DALYs wouldn’t account for this. But that’s just one of the many ways in which DALYs optimize for practicality, compared to QALYs.
Why does GiveWell prefer dalys to qalys?
If GiveWell cared more about QALY’s than DALY’s, would their recommendations be different?
DALYs are just a special case of QALYs for which there is very good weighting data available (from the WHO), because they’re linked to well-defined medical conditions and disabilities. Of course one could imagine other, non-health-related interventions that would affect QALYs, but these outcomes are also harder to measure.
I disagree with this. In my opinion QALYs are much superior to DALYs for reasons that are inherent to how the measures are defined. I wrote a Tumblr post in response to Slatestarscratchpad a few weeks ago, see http://dooperator.tumblr.com/post/137005888794/can-you-give-me-a-or-two-good-article-on-why .
I agree. QALY also relate to happiness, whereas DALY’s relate to functioning.
If you are a billionaire, you have a selfish incentive to reduce DALY’s to raise productivity.
QALY’s are altruistic in the truest sense. I feel that should be pivotal in EA, not DALY’s.
Just because someone can function perfectly (no ‘disability’) doesn’t mean there no super depressed and miserable. They, even if they are a millionaire banker, could be a lot worse off than a highly ‘disabled’ quadraplegic from the Ivory Coast.
Doesn’t severe depression have a DALY weight? Of course one could also be miserable for all sorts of reasons without actually being depressed in a medical sense, and DALYs wouldn’t account for this. But that’s just one of the many ways in which DALYs optimize for practicality, compared to QALYs.