http://www.bengfort.com/devi/bill-gates-the-performing-philanthropist/ The Bengfort Global Blog Tue, 07 Feb 2012 23:14:58 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://www.bengfort.com/devi/bill-gates-the-performing-philanthropist/comment-page-1/#comment-216 Benjamin Sun, 01 Nov 2009 15:47:17 +0000 http://www.bengfort.com/?p=573#comment-216 Did you get any sort of feeling of the success of the event? Are the Gates going to get some sort of policy change or money as a result of the performance? Economically speaking, people generally make choices that maximize their utility (I'm expecting a comment from the anthropologist, shortly after this- but hey, I'm an economist). Helping people in Africa is usually low on the utility list. Happiness is a factor of utility, so the marriage of entertainment to charity to raise the utility of giving seems to make sense (with the assumption that entertainment brings happiness). Did you get any sort of feeling of the success of the event? Are the Gates going to get some sort of policy change or money as a result of the performance? Economically speaking, people generally make choices that maximize their utility (I’m expecting a comment from the anthropologist, shortly after this- but hey, I’m an economist). Helping people in Africa is usually low on the utility list. Happiness is a factor of utility, so the marriage of entertainment to charity to raise the utility of giving seems to make sense (with the assumption that entertainment brings happiness).

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