The effects of affirmative action on the incentives to human capital accumulation are ambiguous from a theoretical perspective and the scarce empirical evidence on the matter provides mixed results. In this paper, we address this issue by investigating the impacts of Brazil's Law of Quotas on the students' performance in the college entrance exam,…

This paper seeks to identify strategies for anti-racist higher education, drawing on scholarship that locates structural racism in global and local centre-periphery relations. We first examine how the centre-periphery divide has been identified and challenged in anti-racist intellectual and political movements, focusing on exchanges and solidarity…

Affirmative action in higher education can lead to mismatch, where students admitted through preferential treatment struggle academically due to inadequate preparation before college. Although some students may face initial challenges, by providing access to quality education for talented individuals who might have otherwise been overlooked due to…

Social inclusion policy in higher education--also referenced as affirmative action, reservations, schedules, or antidiscrimination--has been used widely to promote equity and access for minority and historically discriminated subgroups who wish to participate in tertiary education. Inclusion is often protected de jure through a country's…

In December 2019, the institutional affirmative action "Onde elas estão?" ("Where are they?") was launched for the mitigation of gender inequality in the STEM disciplines in Brazil, coincidentally in the same period which the first reports of the COVID-19 pandemic appeared in the city of Wuhan, China. Unfortunately, when…

This dissertation is a collection of three essays in Public Economics. The first chapter studies the optimal design of student loans as a lever to foster the inclusion of poor students in private colleges in Brazil. The second chapter delves into understanding the consequences of affirmative action as a tool to increase the participation of…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to characterize the trends for educational innovation in higher education in Brazil, constructing a conceptual model of innovation trends in the sector. Design/methodology/approach: A preliminary profile online was done with 76 experts in university education, and 17 were contacted for in-depth perceptions.…

Following months of debate in 2012, Brazilian President Rousseff signed the Quota Law establishing quotas for the percentages of Black, Brown, and indigenous public secondary school students that public universities must enroll. Guided by a social dominance theory framework, this paper examines the extent to which such a policy can challenge an…

This paper examines educational segregation in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro through the lens of a multifaceted centreperiphery relationship involving geographical, racial and historical dimensions. The paper first situates Brazilian racial inequalities historically, drawing on decolonial theory, before examining student enrolment patterns…

Youth movements rose in Brazil in the past decade, fighting for equitable access to education alongside plural -- anti-capitalist, anti-racist, and feminist -- struggles. This article examines interactions by which Brazilian youth activists organise, politicise, and define who constitutes a movement. It focuses on a 2019 public hearing to defend…

This dissertation studies college admissions in Brazil in the past two decades, a period characterized by a decline in the socioeconomic inequality in demand for higher education. The first chapter studies an affirmative action policy enacted at a flagship university in Brazil to lower the socioeconomic inequality in college access. I find…