On the road to social mobility? Affirmative action and major choice
On the road to social mobility? Affirmative action and major choice
Students from disadvantaged backgrounds remain underrepresented in prestigious and high-paying fields of study, such as STEM. While affirmative action (AA) policies have been shown to increase the representation of minority students in selective universities, they may also affect students’ choice of majors, with potential implications for social mobility. We study a policy implemented by a highly selective Brazilian university that expanded the range of majors accessible to lower-SES applicants, using it as a natural experiment. The policy led targeted students to apply to and enroll in more prestigious, higher-paying STEM majors and attenuated the influence of socioeconomic background on major choices. Our findings suggest that in contexts where applicants select their majors before university entry and these choices are influenced by strategic considerations, AA policies can be particularly effective in promoting social mobility.
Affirmative action, Major choice, Post-secondary education, Social mobility
Estevan, Fernanda
90355085-b671-4cca-afbc-f971ba12e8c9
Gall, Thomas
8df67f3d-fe3c-4a3f-8ce7-e2090557fcd4
Morin, Louis-Philippe
6093bba9-3e17-4407-aef6-f5c03ce4a165
1 December 2025
Estevan, Fernanda
90355085-b671-4cca-afbc-f971ba12e8c9
Gall, Thomas
8df67f3d-fe3c-4a3f-8ce7-e2090557fcd4
Morin, Louis-Philippe
6093bba9-3e17-4407-aef6-f5c03ce4a165
Estevan, Fernanda, Gall, Thomas and Morin, Louis-Philippe
(2025)
On the road to social mobility? Affirmative action and major choice.
Labour Economics, 97, [102821].
(doi:10.1016/j.labeco.2025.102821).
Abstract
Students from disadvantaged backgrounds remain underrepresented in prestigious and high-paying fields of study, such as STEM. While affirmative action (AA) policies have been shown to increase the representation of minority students in selective universities, they may also affect students’ choice of majors, with potential implications for social mobility. We study a policy implemented by a highly selective Brazilian university that expanded the range of majors accessible to lower-SES applicants, using it as a natural experiment. The policy led targeted students to apply to and enroll in more prestigious, higher-paying STEM majors and attenuated the influence of socioeconomic background on major choices. Our findings suggest that in contexts where applicants select their majors before university entry and these choices are influenced by strategic considerations, AA policies can be particularly effective in promoting social mobility.
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Accepted/In Press date: 2 November 2025
e-pub ahead of print date: 5 November 2025
Published date: 1 December 2025
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Copyright © 2025. Published by Elsevier B.V.
Keywords:
Affirmative action, Major choice, Post-secondary education, Social mobility
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 507304
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/507304
ISSN: 0927-5371
PURE UUID: 19c9fbb8-de14-4713-9b87-be8eecb029ca
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Date deposited: 03 Dec 2025 17:40
Last modified: 04 Dec 2025 02:43
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Author:
Fernanda Estevan
Author:
Louis-Philippe Morin
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