The law of diminishing returns also explains why, in general, it makes less sense to donate to disaster relief than it does to donate to the best charities that fight poverty. Every day people die from easily preventable diseases like AIDS, malaria, or tuberculosis. This is a disaster far beyond that of Haiti, or Tōhoku, or Sichuan. Every day over 18,000 children – more than the number of people who perished in Tōhoku – die from preventable causes.
