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An Economic Argument for Affirmative Action

Author

Listed:
  • DEAN P. FOSTER

    (University of Chicago)

  • RAKESH V. VOHRA

    (University of Chicago)

Abstract

This article presents a model involving employers and two classes of workers, alike except for labels. Employers choose whom to hire and workers choose whether to invest in training. At one equilibrium, employers discriminate, which, the authors show, is Pareto inferior to another equilibrium where no discrimination occurs. On the basis of this observation, an argument for affirmative action is advanced .

Suggested Citation

  • Dean P. Foster & Rakesh V. Vohra, 1992. "An Economic Argument for Affirmative Action," Rationality and Society, , vol. 4(2), pages 176-188, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ratsoc:v:4:y:1992:i:2:p:176-188
    DOI: 10.1177/1043463192004002004
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Becker, Gary S., 1971. "The Economics of Discrimination," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 2, number 9780226041162, August.
    2. Phelps, Edmund S, 1972. "The Statistical Theory of Racism and Sexism," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 62(4), pages 659-661, September.
    3. Marshall, Ray, 1974. "The Economics of Racial Discrimination: A Survey," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 12(3), pages 849-871, September.
    4. Paul Milgrom & Sharon Oster, 1987. "Job Discrimination, Market Forces, and the Invisibility Hypothesis," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 102(3), pages 453-476.
    5. Lundberg, Shelly J & Startz, Richard, 1983. "Private Discrimination and Social Intervention in Competitive Labor Markets," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 73(3), pages 340-347, June.
    6. Conway, Delores A & Roberts, Harry V, 1983. "Reverse Regression, Fairness, and Employment Discrimination," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 1(1), pages 75-85, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Austen-Smith, David & Wallerstein, Michael, 2006. "Redistribution and affirmative action," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(10-11), pages 1789-1823, November.
    2. Cecilia Conrad & Rhonda Sharpe, 1996. "The impact of the California Civil Rights Initiative (CCRI) on university and professional school admissions and the implications for the California Economy," The Review of Black Political Economy, Springer;National Economic Association, vol. 25(1), pages 13-59, September.
    3. Moro, Andrea & Norman, Peter, 2004. "A general equilibrium model of statistical discrimination," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 114(1), pages 1-30, January.
    4. Christopher Jung & Sampath Kannan & Changhwa Lee & Mallesh M. Pai & Aaron Roth & Rakesh Vohra, 2020. "Fair Prediction with Endogenous Behavior," Papers 2002.07147, arXiv.org.
    5. Siddique, Zahra, 2011. "Evidence on Caste Based Discrimination," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(S1), pages 146-159.
    6. Selman Erol & Camilo Garcia-Jimeno, 2024. "Civil Liberties and Social Structure," Working Paper Series WP 2024-05, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
    7. Conde-Ruiz, J. Ignacio & Ganuza, Juan José & Profeta, Paola, 2022. "Statistical discrimination and committees," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    8. David Neumark & Harry Holzer, 2000. "Assessing Affirmative Action," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 38(3), pages 483-568, September.
    9. Kim-Sau Chung, 2000. "Role Models and Arguments for Affirmative Action," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(3), pages 640-648, June.
    10. Junpei Komiyama & Shunya Noda, 2026. "On Statistical Discrimination as a Failure of Social Learning: A Multiarmed Bandit Approach," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 72(1), pages 442-455, January.
    11. Siddique, Zahra, 2008. "Caste Based Discrimination: Evidence and Policy," IZA Discussion Papers 3737, IZA Network @ LISER.
    12. Eshwar Ram Arunachaleswaran & Sampath Kannan & Aaron Roth & Juba Ziani, 2022. "Pipeline Interventions," Mathematics of Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 47(4), pages 3207-3238, November.
    13. Sampath Kannan & Aaron Roth & Juba Ziani, 2018. "Downstream Effects of Affirmative Action," Papers 1808.09004, arXiv.org.
    14. Laurence Kranich, 2017. "Historical discrimination and optimal remediation," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 48(1), pages 239-265, January.
    15. Sampath Kannan & Mingzi Niu & Aaron Roth & Rakesh Vohra, 2021. "Best vs. All: Equity and Accuracy of Standardized Test Score Reporting," Papers 2102.07809, arXiv.org.

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