An important criticism of race-based higher education admission preferences is that they may hurt minority students who attend more selective schools than they would in the absence of such preferences. We categorize the non-experimental research designs available for the study of so-called "mismatch" effects and evaluate the likely biases in each. We select two comparisons and use them to examine mismatch effects in law school. We find no evidence of mismatch effects on any students' employment outcomes or on the graduation or bar passage rates of black students with moderate or strong entering credentials. What evidence there is for mismatch comes from less-qualified black students who typically attend second- or third-tier schools. Many of these students would not have been admitted to any law school without preferences, however, and the resulting sample selection prevents strong conclusions.
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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number
14275.
Length: Date of creation: Aug 2008 Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14275
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Paper
Jesse Rothstein & Albert Yoon, 2006.
"Mismatch in Law School,"
Working Papers
79, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Center for Economic Policy Studies..
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Find related papers by JEL classification: I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities and Races; Non-labor Discrimination K30 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - General
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