Zack KanterVerified account

It seems to me that one of the worst things that the best capital allocator in the world could do is give too early.

wouldn't that skill apply to solving market failures as well? especially for problems that are irreversible…

Giving ≠ addressing market failures. Giving = enabling others to address market failures. Great capital allocators reliably compound capital at astonishing rates. The argument against giving it away early is that it curtails the ability to compound.

E.g. what if Buffett gave it all away when he had $20B?

That presumes that his $20b wouldn’t have compounded in social returns in the same way it has financially.

Given the path dependencies of many social systems it’s not impossible to imagine similar amounts of extreme compounding.

That could only happen if Bezos could invest in other Bezoses in the social impact space - but there aren’t any other Bezoses, anywhere. An argument could be made for him to start a social impact company, but it makes little sense for him to just give money away.

And we think he’ll be better able to allocate even more money later? Unless he plans to retire and be the Jeff Bezos of philanthropy in 10 years, making more because ‘that’s what he’s best at’ doesn’t effect the social good side of the equation.