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The Efficiency of Race-Neutral Alternatives to Race-Based Affirmative Action: Evidence from Chicago's Exam Schools

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  • Glenn Ellison
  • Parag A. Pathak
Abstract
Several public K-12 and university systems have recently shifted from race-based affirmative action plans to race-neutral alternatives. This paper explores the degree to which race-neutral alternatives are effective substitutes for racial quotas using data from the Chicago Public Schools (CPS), where a race-neutral, place-based affirmative action system is used for admissions at highly competitive exam high schools. We develop a theoretical framework that motivates quantifying the efficiency cost of race-neutral policies by the extent admissions decisions are distorted more than needed to achieve a given level of diversity. According to our metric, CPS's race-neutral system is 24% and 20% efficient as a tool for increasing minority representation at the top two exam schools, i.e. about three-fourths of the reduction in composite scores could have been avoided by explicitly considering race. Even though CPS's system is based on socioeconomic disadvantage, it is actually less effective than racial quotas at increasing the number of low-income students. We examine several alternative race-neutral policies and find some to be more efficient than the CPS policy. What is feasible varies with the school's surrounding neighborhood characteristics and the targeted level of minority representation. However, no race-neutral policy restores minority representation to prior levels without substantial inefficiency, implying significant efficiency costs from prohibitions on affirmative action policies that explicitly consider race.

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  • Glenn Ellison & Parag A. Pathak, 2016. "The Efficiency of Race-Neutral Alternatives to Race-Based Affirmative Action: Evidence from Chicago's Exam Schools," NBER Working Papers 22589, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:22589
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Debraj Ray & Rajiv Sethi, 2010. "A Remark on Color‐Blind Affirmative Action," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 12(3), pages 399-406, June.
    2. Roland Fryer & Glenn C. Loury & Tolga Yuret, 2003. "Color-Blind Affirmative Action," NBER Working Papers 10103, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Dario Cestau & Dennis Epple & Holger Sieg, 2017. "Admitting Students to Selective Education Programs: Merit, Profiling, and Affirmative Action," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 125(3), pages 761-797.
    4. David Austen-Smith & Roland G. Fryer, 2005. "An Economic Analysis of "Acting White"," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 120(2), pages 551-583.
    5. Tolga Yuret, 2008. "An Economic Analysis of Color-Blind Affirmative Action," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 24(2), pages 319-355, October.
    6. Kim-Sau Chung, 2000. "Role Models and Arguments for Affirmative Action," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(3), pages 640-648, June.
    7. Jimmy Chan & Erik Eyster, 2003. "Does Banning Affirmative Action Lower College Student Quality?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(3), pages 858-872, June.
    8. David Austen-Smith & Ronald G. Fryer, 2005. "An Economic Analysis of 'Acting White'," Discussion Papers 1399, Northwestern University, Center for Mathematical Studies in Economics and Management Science.
    9. Umut Mert Dur & Parag A. Pathak & Tayfun Sönmez, 2016. "Explicit vs. Statistical Preferential Treatment in Affirmative Action: Theory and Evidence from Chicago’s Exam Schools," Boston College Working Papers in Economics 906, Boston College Department of Economics.
    10. Glenn Ellison & Parag A. Pathak, 2021. "The Efficiency of Race-Neutral Alternatives to Race-Based Affirmative Action: Evidence from Chicago's Exam Schools," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 111(3), pages 943-975, March.
    11. Dennis Epple & Richard Romano & Holger Sieg, 2008. "Diversity and Affirmative Action in Higher Education," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 10(4), pages 475-501, August.
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    Cited by:

    1. Thành Nguyen & Rakesh Vohra, 2019. "Stable Matching with Proportionality Constraints," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 67(6), pages 1503-1519, November.
    2. Estelle Cantillon, 2017. "Broadening the market design approach to school choice," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 33(4), pages 613-634.
    3. Glenn Ellison & Parag A. Pathak, 2021. "The Efficiency of Race-Neutral Alternatives to Race-Based Affirmative Action: Evidence from Chicago's Exam Schools," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 111(3), pages 943-975, March.
    4. Ursula Mello, 2021. "Affirmative Action and the Choice of Schools," Working Papers 1285, Barcelona School of Economics.
    5. Angrist, Joshua D. & Pathak, Parag A. & Zarate, Roman A., 2023. "Choice and consequence: Assessing mismatch at Chicago exam schools," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 223(C).
    6. Rodrigo Zeidan & Silvio Luiz de Almeida & Inácio Bó & Neil Lewis, 2024. "Racial and income‐based affirmative action in higher education admissions: Lessons from the Brazilian experience," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(3), pages 956-972, July.
    7. Mello, Ursula, 2023. "Affirmative action and the choice of schools," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 219(C).
    8. Bleemer, Zachary, 2023. "Affirmative action and its race-neutral alternatives," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 220(C).
    9. Dur, Umut & Pathak, Parag A. & Sönmez, Tayfun, 2020. "Explicit vs. statistical targeting in affirmative action: Theory and evidence from Chicago's exam schools," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    10. Cook, Jason B., 2018. "Race-Blind Admissions, School Segregation, and Student Outcomes: Evidence from Race-Blind Magnet School Lotteries," IZA Discussion Papers 11909, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Oguzhan Celebi, 2023. "Diversity Preferences, Affirmative Action and Choice Rules," Papers 2310.14442, arXiv.org.
    12. van der Klaauw, Bas & Oosterbeek, Hessel & Sóvágó, Sándor, 2019. "Why are schools segregated? Evidence from the secondary-school match in Amsterdam," CEPR Discussion Papers 13462, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    13. Ursina Schaede & Ville Mankki, 2022. "Quota vs Quality? Long-Term Gains from an Unusual Gender Quota," CESifo Working Paper Series 9811, CESifo.

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    JEL classification:

    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General

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