Joseph F. Gomes, a research fellow at the Navarra Center for International Development (NCID) of the University of Navarra, has received a 36,000-Euro grant from the Ramón Areces Foundation.

Thanks to this grant, Gomes will develop a study on how the relationship between various ethnic groups within a country can affect individual perception of public goods and their distribution. This research will be conducted on a global level, but will focus on two specific cases in sub-Saharan Africa and India. The researcher is from the latter country.

This project aims to understand the role of ethnic diversity in the provision of public goods and provide leaders with data on regions and groups to design more direct intervention policies and identify vulnerable regions.

Improving understanding between ethnic groups

According to Gomes, interaction and mutual understanding between ethnic groups can increase or decrease the hostility between them and thus affect the desire of individuals to contribute to public goods.

According to the researcher, "with more interaction there is less antagonism. This represents a very important finding for understanding that diversity is not bad if there is more interaction with and better understanding of the other ethnic group."

The grant is part of the XXX Call for Increasing Studies Abroad in Social Sciences from the Ramón Areces Foundation, which awards 22 grants in total. With it, Joseph Gomes will carry out his research for two years within the NCID, which is part of the Institute for Culture and Society at the University of Navarra.