Update (23/08/2024)

We have run a number of initial studies. We aim to release results from these publicly within the next month and the results have already been shared privately with stakeholders.

I set up a number of markets on Manifold to predict results from these studies.

Update

We are pleased to announce that we have received a grant from Open Philanthropy to fill the rest of our funding gap (as defined by this fundraiser) for this project. This means that we'll be able to be able to complete the project at the full level of depth and comprehensiveness described on this page.

We have already designed a large number of candidate studies and aim to report results over the summer.

Update

We are pleased to announce that we have received a grant from Open Philanthropy to fill the rest of our funding gap (as defined by this fundraiser) for this project. This means that we'll be able to be able to complete the project at the full level of depth and comprehensiveness described on this page.

We have already designed a large number of candidate studies and aim to report results over the summer.

Hi @MarcusAbramovitch, many thanks for your support and for the thoughtful comment!

(Meta note to Manifund: I only received notifications for comments but not for donations I'm not sure if that's intentional?)

@peterwildeford Thanks for your show of support!

@PlasmaBallin Many thanks- we'd be interested to see the results too!

@Austin Many thanks- greatly appreciated!

@Adrian Thanks! We have run a number of private message testing experiments with a narrower focus (e.g. testing specific ads which an org is considering), but none which are broader/more fundamental like these proposed studies.

These broader studies seem to present something of a coordination problem, where they are of partial relevance to lots of different orgs, but (unlike the narrower studies) not solely relevant to any particular org. The end result is that no particular actor funds them.

Fwiw I found Blackpool to be a very pleasant place to live (my wife and I lived there for just over a year, largely due to the presence of the EA Hotel) and would personally prefer to live there rather than London (even setting aside the dramatic cost difference). The EA Hotel itself also provides a concentration of engaged EAs that seems hard to match outside of the very largest EA centres.