Does Timing Matter? Early Access to Elite Schools through Affirmative Action in India

• In Event: Policies on Early Childhood Access, Skills, and Opportunity

Abstract

This paper examines how providing young children access to elite private schools through affirmative action at the start of their schooling shapes their academic and social development. Exploiting lottery-based variation in the timing of admission, the paper compares children who gain access through affirmative action to the same elite private schools two years apart. Earlier entry improves academic achievement, increases prosociality toward disadvantaged children, and strengthens social integration through greater cross-group friendships, reciprocal friendships, and lower social exclusion. Broader social preferences and beliefs also change selectively, with no evidence of a uniform increase in generalized prosociality. These findings suggest that the developmental consequences of affirmative action depend not only on providing access but also on providing that access early in children's schooling.

Author

• Shubhangi Gupta, Cornell University
  Presenting Author