Aspirations and Well-Being Outcomes
in Ethiopia
Media and Resources
Tanguy Bernard, Ph.D
Tanguy Bernard has been studying and working on poverty related issues over the past ten years, with an important field experience, mostly in Africa. His research combines extensive qualitative work with theory, and use of appropriate data via experiment-like designs and robust econometric analysis. Part of his research focuses on collective action mechanisms for rural households’ access to market and public services in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Haiti, and Senegal. In particular, he investigates conditions under which social norms of solidarity in west-African village communities may support or impede the emergence of market-oriented farmers’ organizations. As a researcher at the International Food Policy Research Institute, he has been living in Ethiopia for the past two years. There, he witnessed with Alemayehu Seyoum Taffesse how fatalism is often used to explain the slow socio-economic transformation in the country. Their present research aims at further understanding these dynamics within the framework of aspiration failures.
About the Project
Fatalism is customarily attributed to Ethiopians - particularly those who are poor. The intention, in such instances, is to characterize the lack of proactive and systematic effort to better one’s own life, and the implied acceptance of their circumstances, that a lot of Ethiopians seem to display.
Recent work by Appadurai (2001) and Ray (2006) offer alternative characterization of what appears to be fatalism, namely, aspirations failure. Accordingly, a weak capacity to aspire (to a better future or a better life) can translate into low or no investments and that may pass for fatalism. Importantly, whereas little can be done to address fatalism, the aspiration failure framework offers clear entry points for programs aimed at enhancing entrepreneurship and reducing poverty.
There is however very little (if any) evidence on the empirical validity of this approach, and much remains to be learnt. This study will use a new individual-level data set collected by the present researchers, to investigate measurement issues in aspirations and related concepts. In a second step, an experimental design relying on the broadcast of specially produced documentaries will be used to test the underlying theory. It will further be used to identify policy-relevant mechanisms to promote future oriented-behaviors among Ethiopians.
International Food Policy Research Institute
The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) seeks sustainable solutions for ending hunger and poverty. IFPRI is one of 15 centers supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), an alliance of 64 governments, private foundations, and international and regional organizations.
Visit the International Food Policy Research Institute's website.
Entrepreneurs create products, services and jobs. They expand economies, improve people's lives, provide employment (high and rising wages) and bring about competition. A competitive environment, in turn, gives rise to efficiency, meritocracy and further innovations and entrepreneurial drive.
The potent combination of entrepreneurship and technological innovation can forge an environment that is conducive to further enterprise, involving even government policy in supporting entrepreneurship and innovation.
