Affirmative action and the choice of schools
Ursula Mello
Journal of Public Economics, 2023, vol. 219, issue C
Abstract:
Socioeconomic-based affirmative action in higher education has gained importance following controversies over 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 movements from private to public schools by 31% and that movers come disproportionately from low-SES and low-quality private schools. An exploration of the mechanisms shows that movers increase their future probability of higher education attendance at the expense of attending poorer and lower-performing public schools. The reform also leads to changes in school choice of indirectly exposed cohorts and general-equilibrium effects in the form of school closure.
Keywords: Affirmative action; School choice; Behavioral responses (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D10 H31 I24 I25 I28 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)
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Working Paper: Affirmative Action and the Choice of Schools (2021) 
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:219:y:2023:i:c:s0047272723000063
DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2023.104824
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