Affirmative action, Tournaments,

No abstract

If employers ha¨e different Becker-type discrimination coefficients for different demographic groups, then the implementation of affirmati¨e action may ha¨e a differential impact on those groups. We estimate two¨ector autoregressi¨e models of the U.S. economy, including the unemployment rates of four demographic groups. We find that a job queue existed before the implementation of affirmati¨e action and that affirmati¨e action changed the ordering of the job queue in manner that had a negati¨e impact on nonwhite males. We find e¨idence that affirmati¨e action may ha¨e increased the unemployment rate of nonwhite males by increasing their Ž . duration of unemployment. JEL J71, J78, J64, J68

Studies show that the percentage of female senior managers in large corporations continues to grow slowly. I consider a firm that initially has an entirely male management structure. If this firm suddenly shifts its behavior and begins to hire male and female managers in equal numbers and treats them equally, then the gender composition of the firm's managers will change over time. Using well-established mathematical methods, I derive equations that show how rapidly this change will occur. Using data from previously published studies to establish parameter bounds, I draw random samples for parameter values and use these to investigate how quickly the gender composition of a firm's management structure can change. I find that the gender composition at lower management levels changes quickly, compared to the upper management levels. (JEL J71)

Lewis and Shorten (Applied Economics, 1991, 23, 167-77) have proposed that male and female earnings, male and female labour force participation rates and occupational segregation are simultaneously determined in the labour market. They estimate their model for Australia using 1981 Census data and find substantial evidence to support their hypothesis. However, there have been no subsequent studies to empirically test their hypothesis for other countries. In this paper their model for the United States using 1990 Census data is replicated. All but one of the coefficients on the endogenous variables have the same signs as those reported by Lewis and Shorten, which tends to support their model. The specification of Lewis and Shorten's model is tested and it is inappropriate for the US data. The model is then reformulated and re-estimated. The reformulated model also shows substantial evidence of simultaneity between occupational segregation and other labour market outcomes.