From past to present: ancestry and student achievement in Brazil

This paper estimates the impact of family ancestry on the educational outcomes of a cohort of Brazilian students. Based on longitudinal data with student identification, we apply an algorithm of surname classification that assigns the student, based on the surnames of his/her parents and grandparents, to one of the following ancestry groups: Iberian, Japanese, Italian, German, Eastern European and Syrian-Lebanese. Our identification strategy relies on the epidemiological approach, controlling for individual trajectory since birth and the persistence of local institutions established during the Era of Mass Immigration to Brazil in the 19th and 20th centuries. We show that, despite slight or absent differences in preschool attendance rate, students with non-Iberian ancestry obtain statistically and substantively higher promotion rates and scores on 3^rd and 5^th grade nationwide standardized tests.