Status of Open Philanthropy Project potential causes

	A	B	C	D
1	Issue	Formal writeup?	Level of depth	Where we stand

2	Criminal justice reform	http://www.givewell.org/labs/causes/criminal-justice-reform	Medium	Top contender; "window of opportunity" with outstanding tractability
3	Drug policy	No	Many conversations due to overlap with criminal justice reform and Good Ventures work	We have some involvement, but don't plan to make this a priority cause by itself. We see it as a potential "window of opportunity" cause, but with less humanitarian significance than criminal justice reform (where they do not overlap)
4	Marriage equality	No	Good Ventures has made some grants and had some conversations in this area	Not prioritized; arguably still a "window of opportunity," but seems to be more in the end stages, and opportunities for major counterfactual impact appear limited
5	Surveillance	No	Informal discussion only	Not prioritized; appears to get a reasonable amount of attention given the humanitarian stakes
6	Labor mobility	http://www.givewell.org/labs/causes/labor-mobility	Shallow writeup published, medium-depth in progress	Top contender; "ambitious longshot" with outstanding potential for impact, and appears less crowded than comparably significant causes
7	Macroeconomic policy	http://www.givewell.org/labs/causes/macroeconomic-policy	Medium	Intermediate contender; "ambitious longshot" with outstanding potential for impact, but appears fairly crowded
8	Foreign aid and related policy areas	http://www.givewell.org/labs/causes/advocacy-foreign-aid	Shallow writeup published; we have since had a couple of off-the-record in-depth conversations	Intermediate contender; high importance but somewhat crowded
9	Improving democracy	http://files.givewell.org/files/conversations/Kramer%2012-6-13%20(public).pdf	Reviewed and discussed Hewlett Foundation report	Intermediate contender; we haven't found a policy platform we're optimistic about
10	Tax policy	Forthcoming	Shallow writeup in progress	Probably won't be prioritized; highly important but there seems to be a relatively well-resourced mainstream consensus that we agree with, and change is blocked by political dynamics
11	Trade policy	No	Informal discussion only	Not prioritized; does not appear to stand out on any particular dimension
12	Defense policy	No	Informal discussion only	Not prioritized; does not appear to stand out on any particular dimension
13	Climate change	http://www.givewell.org/shallow/climate-change	Shallow	Not prioritized; highly important but appears highly crowded
14	Education policy	No	Informal discussion only	Not prioritized; highly important but appears highly crowded
15	Environment policy (aside from climate change)	No	Informal discussion only	Not prioritized; does not appear to stand out on any particular dimension
16	Health care policy	Forthcoming	Investigation in progress	TBD
17	Redistribution/inequality	Forthcoming	Investigation in progress	TBD
18	Occupational licensing	http://files.givewell.org/files/conversations/Mellor%2012-12-13%20(public).pdf	Investigation in progress	Not prioritized; potential "green field" but likely less important than land use reform
19	Land use reform	Forthcoming	Investigation in progress	Intermediate contender; potential "green field" with very little in the way of potential grantees. Moderate importance
20	Organ donation	http://www.givewell.org/labs/causes/organ-transplantation	Shallow-level writeup but Alexander Berger has significant connections/experience in this area	Intermediate contender; potential "green field" with very little in the way of potential grantees. Low to moderate importance
21	Improving general quality of state and local policy/political infrastructure	Possibly forthcoming	Future investigation is likely	TBD
22	Treatment of animals in industrial agriculture	http://www.givewell.org/labs/causes/treatment-animals-industrial-agriculture	Shallow writeup complete; medium-depth investigation in progress	Intermediate contender; importance depends heavily on particularly difficult judgment calls; crowdedness also a difficult call, as there are many small organizations
23	Intellectual property reform	http://www.givewell.org/labs/causes/software-patent-reform	Shallow writeup focusing on patent reform; broader investigation in progress	Probably won't be prioritized; doesn't appear to stand out on any particular dimension
24	Policy related to global catastrophic risks	No	To revisit in the future after more work on global catastrophic risks generally	Not prioritized for the moment
25	Policy related to scientific research	No	To revisit in the future after more work on scientific research generally	Not prioritized for the moment
26	Broadband policy	http://www.givewell.org/labs/causes/broadband-policy	Shallow	Probably won't be prioritized; doesn't appear to stand out on any particular dimension
27	Promoting savings	Forthcoming	Shallow writeup in progress	Probably won't be prioritized; doesn't appear to stand out on any particular dimension
28	Alcohol policy	Forthcoming	Shallow writeup in progress	Intermediate contender; potential "green field" with relatively little in the way of potential grantees. Moderate importance
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