Bruna Pugialli Da Silva Borges

Bio: Bruna Pugialli Da Silva Borges is an academic researcher from University of São Paulo. The author has contributed to research in topics: Primary education & Higher education. The author has an hindex of 1, co-authored 3 publications receiving 2 citations.

Assessing the impacts of Mais Educacao on educational outcomes : evidence between 2007 and 2011

Abstract: To address the educational gap, many Latin American countries are focusing on extension of the school day and enrichment of the curriculum. In Brazil, a nationwide policy -- Mais Educacao -- was implemented in 2008 with this objective. This paper explores the nationwide rollout of the program across the country and compares the performance of schools before and after implementation of the program. The paper quantifies the impacts of the program on student learning and dropout rates in urban areas, and investigates the heterogeneity of impacts by several characteristics of the program's implementation. Participating schools are compared with nonparticipating schools after controlling for school selection into the program based on observable characteristics using propensity score matching. The analysis finds that participation in Mais Educacao has on average no impacts on school dropout rates and average negative impacts on mathematics test scores. The negative impacts on student achievement are stronger in the short term, which suggests that the negative effects may be reduced as the program improves its implementation. In addition, especially for fifth-grade schools, the level of student spending is associated with reduced dropout rates. Interestingly, in schools choosing the fields of Portuguese and/or sports in the added hours, the program is associated with lower test scores in Portuguese and mathematics. Finally, for the sample of fifth-grade schools, heterogeneous impacts are seen in the program according to the GDP per capita of the city where the school is located. The higher the GDP per capita, the greater the positive impact of the program on mathematics test scores and on dropout rates.

Does Exposure to More Women in Male-Dominated Fields Render Female Students More Career-Oriented?

Abstract: The underrepresentation of women in male-dominated fields of study can generate a lack of role models for female students, which may influence their career choices. This paper sheds light on this question, investigating the existence of impacts of the gender composition of instructors and peers in the Department of Economics from a selective Brazilian university. Specifically, we analyze whether having higher shares of female professors and classmates throughout undergraduate studies in Economics affects female students' labor market outcomes. We use comprehensive administrative data from the University of Sao Paulo, containing information on students' academic results and students', instructors', and course sections' characteristics. We merge these data with Brazilian labor market and firm ownership data to obtain a broad range of career outcomes, including labor force participation, occupational choices, career progression, and wages. To overcome endogeneity issues arising from students' self-selection into professors and peers, we exploit the random assignment of students in the first-semester classes and focus on mandatory courses. A higher representation of women in a male-dominated field, such as Economics, increases female students' labor force participation. Moreover, larger female faculty shares increase the probability that a female student becomes a top manager. These results suggest ways to counteract the highly discussed glass ceiling in high-earning occupations. We show that students' academic performance and elective course-choice are not driving the effects. Instead, we find suggestive evidence that higher shares of female classmates may increase the likelihood of working during undergraduate studies, leading to stronger labor market attachment.

Are women less persistent? Evidence from submissions to a nationwide meeting of economics

Abstract: ABSTRACT Female under-representation in high-profile career positions has relevant impacts on firms’ outcomes, research topics, and public policies. In the academic profession, women’s participation decreases as they evolve in their careers. To understand the lack of women in economics in Brazilian academia, we investigate the decision to submit papers to the largest conference in the country (Brazilian Meeting of Economics, or ANPEC Meetings), an important achievement in the profession. We explore a novel panel dataset of researchers and match them with web-scraped data of their résumés to test gender differences in the probability of submitting an article one year after having a paper (same or new) rejected in the previous year. Our findings suggest that women desist 2.9% points more than men when facing rejection. We also find evidence that younger women give up more and that the quality of the undergraduate program relates to the gender gap in the likelihood of desisting. Finally, we argue that more competitive women may self-select into higher-quality institutions.

Full-time schools, policy-induced school switching, and academic performance

Abstract: While many developing countries are extending their school day from half- to full-time, little is known about the effects of such programs on student outcomes. Mexico recently extended its school-day duration from 4.5 h to 8 h through a full-time schools program. Using administrative student-level panel data, I exploit variation in the rollout of this program to identify its effect on math and language test scores. Controlling for endogenous switching between schools, I find that full-time schooling improves students’ math and language test scores, respectively, by 2.4 and 1.5 percent of a standard deviation in the first year of implementation. These results persist, growing to 13.7 and 10.8 percent of a standard deviation after five years. Moreover, the main results indicate that failure to control for endogenous school switching inflates the effects of five years of exposure to full-time schooling by a factor of 1.2 on math test scores and by a factor of 1.6 on language test scores.

Performance Feedback and Gender Differences in Persistence

Abstract: The decision to persist in stratified career trajectories is often dynamic in nature: people receive performance feedback and decide whether to persist or to drop out. I show experimentally that men are on average 10 percentage points more likely to persist in an environment that rewards high performance than equally performing women who received the same feedback. Roughly 30% of this gender gap in persistence can be explained by men seeking, and women avoiding exposure to additional feedback. Another 30% can be explained by women being less confident about their future performance, as men tend to consider previous failures to be less predictive of their future than women.

Are women less persistent? Evidence from submissions to a nationwide meeting of economics

Abstract: ABSTRACT Female under-representation in high-profile career positions has relevant impacts on firms’ outcomes, research topics, and public policies. In the academic profession, women’s participation decreases as they evolve in their careers. To understand the lack of women in economics in Brazilian academia, we investigate the decision to submit papers to the largest conference in the country (Brazilian Meeting of Economics, or ANPEC Meetings), an important achievement in the profession. We explore a novel panel dataset of researchers and match them with web-scraped data of their résumés to test gender differences in the probability of submitting an article one year after having a paper (same or new) rejected in the previous year. Our findings suggest that women desist 2.9% points more than men when facing rejection. We also find evidence that younger women give up more and that the quality of the undergraduate program relates to the gender gap in the likelihood of desisting. Finally, we argue that more competitive women may self-select into higher-quality institutions.