IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/sochwe/v48y2017i1d10.1007_s00355-016-0952-5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Historical discrimination and optimal remediation

Author

Listed:
  • Laurence Kranich

    (University at Albany, SUNY)

Abstract

I consider a society which is jointly committed to ensuring equal opportunity and to increasing aggregate wealth but is faced with the vestiges of past discrimination in the form of a historically skewed distribution of social resources. Focusing on the problem of allocating the existing (fixed) quantity of social inputs, I consider two policy instruments: directly transferring resources from the advantaged to the disadvantaged or affording preferential treatment in employment to the disadvantaged group (affirmative action). After describing the general procedure for determining an optimal policy, I demonstrate by means of an example that either of the instruments might constitute an optimal remediation policy and I identify conditions which favor each.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:sochwe:v:48:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1007_s00355-016-0952-5
    DOI: 10.1007/s00355-016-0952-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s00355-016-0952-5
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s00355-016-0952-5?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Moro, Andrea & Norman, Peter, 2003. "Affirmative action in a competitive economy," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(3-4), pages 567-594, March.
    2. Shelly J. Lundberg, 1991. "The Enforcement of Equal Opportunity Laws Under Imperfect Information: Affirmative Action and Alternatives," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(1), pages 309-326.
    3. Austen-Smith, David & Wallerstein, Michael, 2006. "Redistribution and affirmative action," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(10-11), pages 1789-1823, November.
    4. Calsamiglia, Caterina & Franke, Jörg & Rey-Biel, Pedro, 2013. "The incentive effects of affirmative action in a real-effort tournament," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 15-31.
    5. Kim-Sau Chung, 2000. "Role Models and Arguments for Affirmative Action," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(3), pages 640-648, June.
    6. Dean P. Foster & Rakesh V. Vohra, 1992. "An Economic Argument for Affirmative Action," Rationality and Society, , vol. 4(2), pages 176-188, April.
    7. Heckman, James J, 1993. "What Has Been Learned about Labor Supply in the Past Twenty Years?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(2), pages 116-121, May.
    8. Franke, Jörg, 2012. "Affirmative action in contest games," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 105-118.
    9. Qiang Fu, 2006. "A Theory of Affirmative Action in College Admissions," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 44(3), pages 420-428, July.
    10. Phelps, Edmund S, 1972. "The Statistical Theory of Racism and Sexism," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 62(4), pages 659-661, September.
    11. Atkinson, Anthony B., 1970. "On the measurement of inequality," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 2(3), pages 244-263, September.
    12. Coate, Stephen & Loury, Glenn C, 1993. "Will Affirmative-Action Policies Eliminate Negative Stereotypes?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(5), pages 1220-1240, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Subhasish M. Chowdhury & Patricia Esteve‐González & Anwesha Mukherjee, 2023. "Heterogeneity, leveling the playing field, and affirmative action in contests," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 89(3), pages 924-974, January.
    2. Brishti Guha & Prabal Roy Chowdhury, 2015. "Affirmative action in the presence of a creamy layer," Discussion Papers 15-06, Indian Statistical Institute, Delhi.
    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. Guha, Brishti & Roy Chowdhury, Prabal, 2017. "Affirmative Action in the Presence of a Creamy Layer: Identity or Class Based?," MPRA Paper 78686, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Rezina Sultana, 2017. "Affirmative Action And Dynamics Of Work-Ethic Preferences," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 55(3), pages 1350-1369, July.
    6. 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.
    7. Laurence Kranich, 2012. "A Simple Theoretical Argument for Affrmative Action," Discussion Papers 12-05, University at Albany, SUNY, Department of Economics.
    8. Daniel Fershtman & Alessandro Pavan, 2021. ""Soft" Affirmative Action and Minority Recruitment," American Economic Review: Insights, American Economic Association, vol. 3(1), pages 1-18, March.
    9. Subedi, Mukti Nath & Rafiq, Shuddhasattwa & Ulker, Aydogan, 2022. "Effects of Affirmative Action on Educational and Labour Market Outcomes: Evidence from Nepal's Reservation Policy," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 443-463.
    10. Anja Prummer, "undated". "Discrimination in Promotion," Working Papers 905, Queen Mary University of London, School of Economics and Finance.
    11. Bart Hobijn & Carlos A. Medina-Durango, 2000. "Is Discrimination Due to a Coordination Failure?," Econometric Society World Congress 2000 Contributed Papers 1758, Econometric Society.
    12. Osorio, António (António Miguel), 2019. "Gender differences in competition: gender equality and cost reduction policies," Working Papers 2072/351587, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Department of Economics.
    13. Moro, Andrea & Norman, Peter, 2003. "Affirmative action in a competitive economy," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(3-4), pages 567-594, March.
    14. Austen-Smith, David & Wallerstein, Michael, 2006. "Redistribution and affirmative action," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(10-11), pages 1789-1823, November.
    15. Siddique, Zahra, 2011. "Evidence on Caste Based Discrimination," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(S1), pages 146-159.
    16. Osório, António (António Miguel), 2021. "The society gendered equilibrium: in search for an economic rationale," Working Papers 2072/534913, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Department of Economics.
    17. Moro, Andrea & Norman, Peter, 2004. "A general equilibrium model of statistical discrimination," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 114(1), pages 1-30, January.
    18. António Osório, 2019. "Gender differences in competition: gender equality and cost reduction policies," Review of Economic Design, Springer;Society for Economic Design, vol. 23(1), pages 27-52, June.
    19. Siddique, Zahra, 2008. "Caste Based Discrimination: Evidence and Policy," IZA Discussion Papers 3737, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Guha, Brishti & Roy Chowdhury, Prabal, 2022. "Affirmative action in the presence of income heterogeneity," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 510-533.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:sochwe:v:48:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1007_s00355-016-0952-5. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.