Abstract
This article examines socioeconomic and racial inequalities in the aspirations to public higher education and assesses whether Brazil’s “Quotas Law” changed those aspirations. The formation of educational aspirations depends on the resources available to the youth; thus, it is prone to reproduce inequalities. Based on an empirical model that articulates contributions from Psychology, Sociology and Economics of Education, we tested the hypothesis that quotas increase the aspiration to public higher education among those eligible for reserved seats. Effect identification is based on a natural experiment; we use individual-level data from Belo Horizonte Metropolitan Area (Minas Gerais state), extracted from Enem 2012 to 2016 microdata. Results are in line with expectations; also, they indicate that quotas’ effects vary by gender.
SOCIAL INEQUALITY; HIGHER EDUCATION; QUOTA; YOUTH