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College Admission with Multidimensional Privileges: The Brazilian Affirmative Action Case

Author

Listed:
  • Orhan Aygün
  • Inácio Bó

Abstract

In 2012, Brazilian public universities were mandated to use affirmative action policies for candidates from racial and income minorities. We show that the policy makes the students' affirmative action status a strategic choice and may reject high-achieving minority students while admitting low-achieving majority students. Empirical data shows evidence consistent with this type of unfairness in more than 49 percent of the programs. We propose a selection criterion and an incentive-compatible mechanism that, for a wider range of similar problems and the one in Brazil in particular, is fair and removes any gain from strategizing over the privileges claimed.

Suggested Citation

  • Orhan Aygün & Inácio Bó, 2021. "College Admission with Multidimensional Privileges: The Brazilian Affirmative Action Case," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 13(3), pages 1-28, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aejmic:v:13:y:2021:i:3:p:1-28
    DOI: 10.1257/mic.20170364
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Kalinin, N. & Kuz'mina, A., 2024. "What could be a dynamical centralized college admission system in Russia," Journal of the New Economic Association, New Economic Association, vol. 62(1), pages 101-115.
    2. Andreas Bjerre-Nielsen & Lykke Sterll Christensen & Mikkel H{o}st Gandil & Hans Henrik Sievertsen, 2023. "Playing the system: address manipulation and access to schools," Papers 2305.18949, arXiv.org.
    3. Rodrigo Zeidan & Silvio Luiz de Almeida & Inácio Bó & Neil Lewis, 2024. "Racial and income‐based affirmative action in higher education admissions: Lessons from the Brazilian experience," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(3), pages 956-972, July.
    4. Machado, Cecilia & Szerman, Christiane, 2021. "Centralized college admissions and student composition," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    5. Oliveira, Rodrigo & Santos, Alei & Severnini, Edson R., 2023. "Bridging the Gap: Mismatch Effects and Catch-up Dynamics in a Brazilian College Affirmative Action," IZA Discussion Papers 16239, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Aygün, Orhan & Turhan, Bertan, 2023. "Affirmative Action in India: Restricted Strategy Space, Complex Constraints, and Direct Mechanism Design," ISU General Staff Papers 202310041552400000, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    7. Abizada, Azar & Bó, Inácio, 2021. "Hiring from a pool of workers," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 186(C), pages 576-591.
    8. Oliveira, Rodrigo & Santos, Alei & Severnini, Edson, 2024. "Bridging the gap: Mismatch effects and catch-up dynamics under a Brazilian college affirmative action program," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    9. Dur, Umut & Zhang, Yanning, 2023. "Fairness under affirmative action policies with overlapping reserves," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    10. Aram Grigoryan & Markus Moller, 2023. "A Theory of Auditability for Allocation Mechanisms," Papers 2305.09314, arXiv.org, revised May 2024.
    11. Oguzhan Celebi, 2023. "Diversity Preferences, Affirmative Action and Choice Rules," Papers 2310.14442, arXiv.org.
    12. Bjerre-Nielsen, Andreas & Christensen, Lykke Sterll & Gandil, Mikkel Høst & Sievertsen, Hans Henrik, 2023. "Playing the System: Address Manipulation and Access to Schools," IZA Discussion Papers 16197, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • H52 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Education
    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • 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
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

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