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Affirmative Action and the Choice of Schools

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  • Ursula Mello

Abstract

Race-neutral affirmative action in higher education has gained importance following the controversies over their race-based alternatives. In many settings, these interventions use a school-based criterion that selects beneficiaries relative to their peers. Exploiting a nationwide quota policy in Brazil that reserved a large share of vacancies in higher education for public-school students, I show that the reform increases the private-to-public school transitions, especially among students of low-performing private schools. In addition to a direct decrease in returns of the private-school investment, spillovers on indirectly exposed cohorts and general equilibrium effects in the school system might also explain the results.

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  • Ursula Mello, 2021. "Affirmative Action and the Choice of Schools," Working Papers 1285, Barcelona School of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:bge:wpaper:1285
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Fernanda Estevan & Thomas Gall & Louis-Philippe Morin, 2019. "Redistribution Without Distortion: Evidence from an Affirmative Action Programme at a Large Brazilian University," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 129(619), pages 1182-1220.
    2. Calsamiglia, Caterina & Loviglio, Annalisa, 2019. "Grading on a curve: When having good peers is not good," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    3. Cullen, Julie Berry & Long, Mark C. & Reback, Randall, 2013. "Jockeying for position: Strategic high school choice under Texas' top ten percent plan," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 32-48.
    4. Tolga Yuret, 2008. "An Economic Analysis of Color-Blind Affirmative Action," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 24(2), pages 319-355, October.
    5. Glenn Ellison & Parag A. Pathak, 2021. "The Efficiency of Race-Neutral Alternatives to Race-Based Affirmative Action: Evidence from Chicago's Exam Schools," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 111(3), pages 943-975, March.
    6. Vieira, Renato Schwambach & Arends-Kuenning, Mary, 2019. "Affirmative action in Brazilian universities: Effects on the enrollment of targeted groups," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    7. Fernanda Estevan & Thomas Gall & Louis-Philippe Morin, 2019. "Corrigendum: Redistribution Without Distortion: Evidence from an Affirmative Action Programme at a Large Brazilian University," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 129(619), pages 1220-1220.
    8. Andrew M. Francis & Maria Tannuri-Pianto, 2012. "Using Brazil’s Racial Continuum to Examine the Short-Term Effects of Affirmative Action in Higher Education," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 47(3), pages 754-784.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Affirmative Action; school choice;

    JEL classification:

    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy

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