[exdsq]

> One idea I see expressed in Effective Altruism circles a lot is that a life overseas in some poor country is worth as much as a life here (in NYC where I live).

Exactly this - it's not a perfect science but it is also a little more complex taking into account QALYs which are quality adjusted life years. Given two options for your $100 donation where one would give 100 QALYs in a poorer country, that is give 100 years of good quality life in total, verses 1 QALY in the West EA argues you should go for the former. It's hard though because people like charity they can see (local) and feel an obligation to donate to their own areas first (which I totally get and feel myself).

I view it the same way I view my stock investments - how do I get the most bang for my dollar, how do I get the most QALYs for my charitable giving. There is huge room for error here but the differences tend to be in orders of magnitude so you can be fairly certain the option is 'better' when you compare, but it gets really complex when you start to speculate on what that person might then do (for example thought experiments like wether you should save the lives of 10 children or one old philantrophist who is about to make a huge donation that will save 10,000 children but whose family won't make that donation if he dies).