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Using Brazil’s Racial Continuum to Examine the Short-Term Effects of Affirmative Action in Higher Education

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  • Andrew M. Francis
  • Maria Tannuri-Pianto

Abstract

In 2004, the University of Brasilia established racial quotas. We find that quotas raised the proportion of black students, and that displacing applicants were from lower socioeconomic status families than displaced applicants. The evidence suggests that racial quotas did not reduce the preuniversity effort of applicants or students. Additionally, there may have been modest racial disparities in college academic performance among students in selective departments, though the policy did not impact these. The findings also suggest that racial quotas induced some individuals to misrepresent their racial identity but inspired other individuals, especially the darkest-skinned, to consider themselves black.

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  • 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.
  • Handle: RePEc:uwp:jhriss:v:46:y:2012:iii:1:p:754-784
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    Cited by:

    1. Cassan, Guilhem, 2019. "Affirmative action, education and gender: Evidence from India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 51-70.
    2. Priscila S. dos Santos & Kalinca L. Becker & Sibele V. de Oliveira, 2023. "Race‐based affirmative action for higher education in Brazil: Impact assessment on performance, time, and delay in completion," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(1), pages 247-267, February.
    3. Machado, Cecilia & Szerman, Christiane, 2021. "Centralized college admissions and student composition," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    4. Francis-Tan, Andrew & Tannuri-Pianto, Maria, 2018. "Black Movement: Using discontinuities in admissions to study the effects of college quality and affirmative action," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 97-116.
    5. Andrew Kerr & Patrizio Piraino & Vimal Ranchhod, 2016. "Estimating the size and impact of Affirmative Action at the University of Cape Town," SALDRU Working Papers 172, Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, University of Cape Town.
    6. 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.
    7. Mello, Ursula, 2023. "Affirmative action and the choice of schools," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 219(C).
    8. 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.
    9. Bleemer, Zachary, 2023. "Affirmative action and its race-neutral alternatives," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 220(C).
    10. Marize Lima de Sousa Holanda Biazotto & Leila Bernarda Donato Göttems & Fernanda Viana Bittencourt & Gilson Roberto de Araújo & Sérgio Eduardo Soares Fernandes & Carlos Manoel Lopes Rodrigues & Franci, 2022. "Nursing students admitted through the affirmative action system display similar performance in professional and academic trajectories to those from the regular path in a public school in Brazil," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(3), pages 1-15, March.
    11. Najam,Rafiuddin, 2024. "Closing the gap : Effect of a gender quota on women's access to education in Afghanistan," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10674, The World Bank.
    12. Maria Eduarda Tannuri Pianto & Andrew Francis, 2011. "The Redistributive Efficacy Ofaffirmative Action: Exploring The Role Of Race And Socioeconomic Statusin College Admissions," Anais do XXXVIII Encontro Nacional de Economia [Proceedings of the 38th Brazilian Economics Meeting] 218, ANPEC - Associação Nacional dos Centros de Pós-Graduação em Economia [Brazilian Association of Graduate Programs in Economics].
    13. Machado, Cecilia & Reyes, Germán & Riehl, Evan, 2022. "Alumni Job Networks at Elite Universities and the Efficacy of Affirmative Action," IZA Discussion Papers 15026, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Cecilia Machado & Germán Reyes & Evan Riehl, 2023. "The Efficacy of Large-Scale Affirmative Action at Elite Universities," CEDLAS, Working Papers 0311, CEDLAS, Universidad Nacional de La Plata.
    15. 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).
    16. Machado, Cecilia & Szerman, Christiane, 2016. "Centralized Admission and the Student-College Match," IZA Discussion Papers 10251, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Casey F. Breen, 2023. "Late-Life Changes in Ethnoracial Self-identification: Evidence from Social Security Administrative Data," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 42(1), pages 1-18, February.
    18. Francis, Andrew M. & Tannuri-Pianto, Maria, 2012. "The redistributive equity of affirmative action: Exploring the role of race, socioeconomic status, and gender in college admissions," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 45-55.
    19. Ferreira Lima, Luis Cristovao, 2012. "The determinants of the academic outcome: an Bayesian approach using a sample of economics students from the University of Brasilia, Brazil," MPRA Paper 44784, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Najam, Rafiuddin, 2024. "Closing the gap: Effect of a gender quota on women’s access to education in Afghanistan," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    21. Soledad Giardili, 2018. "University Quotas and Peers’ Achievement," Working Papers 854, Queen Mary University of London, School of Economics and Finance.
    22. Subedi, Mukti Nath & Rafiq, Shuddhasattwa & Ulker, Aydogan, 2022. "Effects of Affirmative Action on Educational and Labour Market Outcomes: Evidence from Nepal's Reservation Policy," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 443-463.
    23. Andrew Francis-Tan & Zheng Mu, 2019. "Racial Revolution: Understanding the Resurgence of Ethnic Minority Identity in Modern China," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 38(5), pages 733-769, October.
    24. 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).
    25. Cecilia Machado & Germ'an Reyes & Evan Riehl, 2023. "The Direct and Spillover Effects of Large-scale Affirmative Action at an Elite Brazilian University," Papers 2305.02513, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2023.

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