Are there ethnic inequality traps in education. Empirical evidence from Brazil and Chile

This study searches for suggestive evidence of an ethnic inequality trap in educational

attainment in Brazil and Chile. The research aims to cover an existing gap in the literature on

inequality traps and proposes an empirical approach to assess certain conditions which might

imply its existence. The main results indicate that while average education and upward

mobility have risen in both countries, ethnic disparities remain significant. In particular, the

evidence is suggestive of an educational inequality trap for Afro-Brazilians, while the

findings are less conclusive of a trap for indigenous individuals in Chile. These results reflect

the need for targeted education policies for ethnic groups in two ways: compensation (or

affirmative action) mechanisms to lower current inequality, and increasing demand and

supply at higher educational levels to prevent the persistence of low level outcomes and

disparities throughout the educational distribution.