Objective Development economists and policymakers often face scenarios in which poor people do not make choices that would help them get out of poverty due to an “aspiration failure”: the poor perceive certain goals as unattainable and do not invest towards those goals, thus perpetuating their own state of poverty. The aim of this proposal is to improve our understanding of the relationship between aspirations and socio-economic outcomes of disadvantaged individuals, in order to answer the question: Can we design policy interventions that shift aspirations in a way that is conducive to development?In addressing the above question a fundamental role is played by social norms and by the ability of individuals to coordinate on “new” aspirations, hence the analysis of social effects is a salient feature of this proposal.The proposed research is organized in two workpackages. The first focuses on the media as a vehicle for changing aspirations, examining both commercial TV programs and “educational entertainment”. The second workpackage examines “tailored” interventions designed to address specific determinants of aspiration failures (e.g. psychological support to reduce perceived barriers; inter-racial interaction to change stereotypes; institutional reform to strengthen women’s rights and reduce the gender aspiration gap).The methodology will involve rigorous evaluation of several interventions directly designed to or indirectly affecting aspirations and social norms. Original data collected through survey work, large administrative datasets and media content analysis will be used.The results of this project will advance our knowledge on the sources of aspiration failures by poor people and on the interplay between aspirations and social norms, eventually opening the avenue for a new array of anti-poverty policies. Fields of science social scienceseducational sciencesdidacticsmedical and health scienceshealth sciencesinfectious diseasesRNA virusesHIVsocial sciencessociologygender studiesgender equalitysocial sciencessociologydemographyhuman migrations Keywords aspirations social norms media economics poverty gender bias Programme(s) H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme Topic(s) ERC-ADG-2015 - ERC Advanced Grant Call for proposal ERC-2015-AdG See other projects for this call Funding Scheme ERC-ADG - Advanced Grant Host institution UNIVERSITA COMMERCIALE LUIGI BOCCONI Net EU contribution € 1 618 125,00 Address VIA SARFATTI 25 20136 Milano Italy See on map Region Nord-Ovest Lombardia Milano Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 1 618 125,00 Beneficiaries (1) Sort alphabetically Sort by Net EU contribution Expand all Collapse all UNIVERSITA COMMERCIALE LUIGI BOCCONI Italy Net EU contribution € 1 618 125,00 Address VIA SARFATTI 25 20136 Milano See on map Region Nord-Ovest Lombardia Milano Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 1 618 125,00