TY - JOUR
T1 - Affirmative action and human capital investment
T2 - Evidence from a randomized field experiment
AU - Cotton, Christopher S.
AU - Hickman, Brent R.
AU - Price, Joseph P.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.
PY - 2022/1
Y1 - 2022/1
N2 - We conduct a field experiment paying students according to relative performance on a mathematics exam and tracking study efforts on a mathematics website to test the incentive effects of affirmative action (AA) policies on study effort and math proficiency. AA increases study effort and exam performance for the majority of disadvantaged students targeted by the policy. While the performance of the highest-ability students targeted by the AA policy declines, on average study activity and exam performance rise under AA. Overall, the experimental evidence suggests that AA can promote greater equality of market outcomes while narrowing achievement gaps.
AB - We conduct a field experiment paying students according to relative performance on a mathematics exam and tracking study efforts on a mathematics website to test the incentive effects of affirmative action (AA) policies on study effort and math proficiency. AA increases study effort and exam performance for the majority of disadvantaged students targeted by the policy. While the performance of the highest-ability students targeted by the AA policy declines, on average study activity and exam performance rise under AA. Overall, the experimental evidence suggests that AA can promote greater equality of market outcomes while narrowing achievement gaps.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85119288271
U2 - 10.1086/713743
DO - 10.1086/713743
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85119288271
SN - 0734-306X
VL - 40
SP - 157
EP - 185
JO - Journal of Labor Economics
JF - Journal of Labor Economics
IS - 1
ER -