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Do disadvantaged students benefit from attending classes with more skilled colleagues? Evidence from a top university in Brazil

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  • Oliveira, Rodrigo
  • Motté, Henrique
  • Santos, Alei

Abstract

Using two rich administrative data sets and a rule of admission at one top university in Brazil that splits students into two classes, we apply a regression discontinuity design to study the effect of class allocation on academic performance and labor market outcomes. The last student of the first class will have higher-ability peers but a lower ordinal rank than the first student of the second class. These effects usually play in different directions. The main results suggest that the academic outcomes of affirmative action students in technology and health sciences majors are negatively impacted by being the last students in the first class. However, this negative effect does not translate into the labor market outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Oliveira, Rodrigo & Motté, Henrique & Santos, Alei, 2023. "Do disadvantaged students benefit from attending classes with more skilled colleagues? Evidence from a top university in Brazil," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:labeco:v:85:y:2023:i:c:s0927537123001392
    DOI: 10.1016/j.labeco.2023.102464
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Affirmative action; Peer effect; Ranking effect; Brazil; Education;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • I25 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Economic Development
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination

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