Author(s)
Veronica Frisancho
Sebastian Gallegos
Constanza González

Do second chances at a high-stakes admission exam yield long-term gains? Leveraging fifteen years of Chilean administrative data and an RDD, we examine the causal effects of retaking on educational and labor market trajectories. Narrowly missing a preferred program cutoff triggers a 44% increase in retaking, leading to substantial score gains (0.27 SD) and improved placement and enrollment chances. However, these immediate gains do not persist. Retakers graduate at the same rate and from programs with similar earnings and employability profiles as their counterfactual peers. Our results suggest that retaking serves as a reshuffling mechanism yielding null net welfare gains.

Publication Type
Working Paper
File Description
First version, March 10, 2026
JEL Codes
J62: Job, Occupational, and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
N36: Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy: Latin America, Caribbean
I24: Education and Inequality
I25: Education and Economic Development
I28: Education: Government Policy
Keywords
high-stakes exams
developing countries
Latin America
educational policy
college enrollment
college graduation
college choice