ExSIDE will strengthen the higher education system in Europe and at the same time will boost research on different approaches for the analysis of expectation formation and social influence dynamics and will provide guidance for policy design.

In addition to generating research findings, which are at the frontier of knowledge, the main objectives are

• the generation of excellent young researchers proceeding to key positions in academia, policy making and the private industry,

• an improvement of the quality of decision making and thereby the competitiveness in these organizations,

• establishment of the interdisciplinary ExSIDE approach in key institutions fostering its diffusion in Europe,

• a structured interaction with policy makers and non-academic partners, such that the research results are communicated and discussed with stakeholders in a way that they can incorporate these findings in their decision making,

• generating the largest network of European universities pursuing a joint structured doctoral program in Economics with a common research and training agenda and delivering joint respectively double degrees.