"I’m thrilled and honoured to receive this grant. It demonstrates that our research contributes relevant knowledge to the broader academic and societal dialogue on important topics, such as how discrimination affects our behaviour in the workplace and how changing social norms can lead to the acceptance of controversial policies. This grant will allow us to translate our ideas into concrete solutions that can benefit individuals and society,” says Julia Nafziger.

In the project "Social Norms as Constraints for Behavioral Change", Julia Nafziger will examine how strong social norms affect acceptance of controversial policies and how reforms that contravene existing norms can best be implemented. The policies in question could pertain to important issues such as gender quotas, CO₂ taxes or increasing the retirement age, which all benefit society. She will also examine whether gender norms can help explain why women on average earn less than men.

On the project, Julia Nafziger collaborates with Alexander Koch, Daniele Nosenzo and Nickolas Gagnon, also from the Department of Economics and Business Economics.

Further information:

• More about Julia Nafziger and her research