What Jacob Trefethen thinks about capitalism

@jacob-trefethen · 14 positions · On ppll ↗

Head of global health R&D at Open Philanthropy, where he directs funding for vaccines, drugs and diagnostics aimed at diseases that get little commercial attention. He writes at blog.jacobtrefethen.com and co-hosts the Hard Drugs podcast with Saloni Dattani.

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Only Jacob Trefethen on capitalism. See everyone on capitalism

1 dated position, 2025, in their own words. Our reading of what Jacob Trefethen has said — not written or endorsed by them.

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1. 29 May 2025

   Our readingInfectious diseases get far less industry R&D per death than non-communicable ones, because they mostly kill people in countries where a cure pays less.

   Their wordsInfectious diseases as a category receive vastly less R&D spending from industry than non-communicable diseases, per death they cause, because they disproportionately kill people in lower- and middle-income countries where the payoff for making a cure is less lucrative.

   ↗A Quantitative Approach to Vaccine Fundingblog.jacobtrefethen.com 2nd of 2 in this piece