Racial and low-income quotas in Brazilian universities: impact on academic performance

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to estimate the impact of racial and low-income quotas on academic performance of students from public and private universities in Brazil. Design/methodology/approach Using propensity score matching applied to student-level data from the National Examination of Student Performance conducted in 2012; this paper identifies the impact of the quota policy on academic performance considering all Brazilian universities. Findings The results indicate that there is no statistically significant difference in academic performance between students admitted under the racial quota and those who had the regular admission (non-quota students). The impact is positive, however, for students from the North region of Brazil and among those with very low family income, whereas a negative impact is observed for those from the Central-West region. In regard to the low-income quota, quota students perform worse than eligible non-quota students as their scores are, on average, 14 percent lower. Similar findings are observed when different subsamples are considered. Originality/value This paper’s main contribution is to provide a broader and more rigorous empirical approach than that presented by the existing literature in order to evaluate the impact of quota policies on academic achievement. Moreover, this study considers all Brazilian institutions whereas previous studies are limited to only one or a few universities.