ABSTRACT

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, the ENEM. We provide causal evidence that the law fostered incentives to pre-college human capital accumulation, inducing students to attain higher ENEM scores. Moreover, the effects of the quotas were greater in quantitative-intensive subjects and these impacts increased throughout the first years after the law’s implementation.

摘要

从理论的角度来看，平权行动对人力资本积累激励的影响是模棱两可的，而且关于这个问题的稀缺经验证据提供了不同的结果。在本文中，我们通过调查巴西配额法对学生在高考 ENEM 中的表现的影响来解决这个问题。我们提供了因果证据，证明法律促进了大学前人力资本积累的激励，从而诱导学生获得更高的 ENEM 分数。此外，配额对数量密集型科目的影响更大，并且这些影响在法律实施后的头几年不断增加。