The inelastic demand for affirmative action

Getik, Demid; Islam, Marco; Samahita, Margaret

Abstract

We study the role of financial incentives in driving support for affirmative action (AA) in a series of online experiments. Participants act as employers deciding whether to use AA in hiring. We implement three treatments to disentangle AA preferences stemming from perceived gender differences in productivity, perceived effects of AA on productivity, or other costs of AA for employers. Around 1/3 of employers consistently implement AA, and we do not find any significant difference across treatments, despite successfully altering beliefs about productivity differences. Our results suggest that AA choice reflects a more intrinsic and inelastic preference for advancing female candidates.

Citation

Getik, D., Islam, M., & Samahita, M. (2024). The inelastic demand for affirmative action. European Economic Review, 170, Article 104862. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euroecorev.2024.104862

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Sep 7, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Sep 20, 2024
• Publication Date: 2024-11
• Deposit Date: Sep 23, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 23, 2024
• Journal: European Economic Review
• Print ISSN: 0014-2921
• Electronic ISSN: 1873-572X
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 170
• Article Number: 104862
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euroecorev.2024.104862
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2873733