College Admission with Multidimensional Privileges: The Brazilian Affirmative Action Case

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Aygun, Orhan; Bo, Inacio
• 署名单位: Bogazici University; Southwestern University of Finance & Economics - China
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-MICROECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7669
• DOI: 10.1257/mic.20170364
• 发表日期: 2021
• 页码: 1-28
• 关键词: School choice

摘要

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.