What the U.S. can learn from affirmative action in Brazilian universities

When Brazil implemented affirmative action at its federal universities in 2012, the policy sparked a public debate that is very similar to the debate over affirmative action in the U.S.

Brazil’s affirmative action policy requires each federal university to reserve at least half of all spots for students from certain groups. Of that half, about half of the spots go exclusively to black, mixed-race, and indigenous Brazilians. The other half goes to low-income public school students. Other universities are free to set their own admissions policies.

Like many Americans, some Brazilians worried that affirmative action would lower the quality of education at public universities. Some worried that only the more privileged members of the targeted groups would benefit and that affirmative action wouldn’t be worth it. 

Others doubted that the beneficiaries could keep up academically and feared that their peers would suffer.

As researchers who study college admissions, economics, and the equity of social interventions and policies, we took a critical look at the effects of affirmative action in Brazil. To do so, we reviewed previous research and the effects of affirmative action on student learning and future earnings. 

In the U.S., these outcomes are difficult to study because before the use of race in college admissions was banned, schools implemented affirmative action as they saw fit. In Brazil, all federal universities...