PDRI-DevLab is hosting a Spring 2024 Workshop Series featuring its staff and affiliates.

Topic: European Settlements and Affirmative Action: The Long-Term Effects of Whitening Policies in Brazil

Presenter: Mateo Villamizar Chaparro

Session Details: Historically, countries have used migration as a tool to populate empty regions or to supply labor to nascent economies. But what are the long-term effects of these policies? Empirically, I focus on the case of Brazil during the age of Mass Migration (1880-1930) to understand how diverse local migration policies explain the contemporary geography ofsupport for redistribution and affirmative action. During that earlier age, Brazil offered land and labor to attract European migrants to work on the growing coffee sector in the country’s South. Combining an original survey with archival and administrative data, I contend that places that gave land to migrants are less supportive of affirmative action policies and are more anti-distribution today. I argue that this effect is a result of the preservation andstrengthening of racial and social hierarchies in Brazilian society that have been transmitted through generations.

Mateo will present his research for 40 minutes, followed by a Q&A. Participants are not required to read the paper beforehand.

For more information, reach out to pdri-devlab@sas.upenn.edu