Affirmative action and its mythology
By: Roland G. Fryer, Jr., Glenn C. Loury.
Contributors: Loury, Glenn C.; National Bureau of Economic Research.
Series: NBER working paper series -- no. 11464.; Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic Research) -- working paper no. 11464.
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research
Published: 2005
Place of publication: Cambridge, Mass
Language: eng
Number of pages: 26
Subjects: Affirmative action programs
Description: "For more than three decades, critics and supporters of affirmative action have fought for the moral high ground - through ballot initiatives and lawsuits, in state legislatures, and in varied courts of public opinion.  The goal of this paper is to show the clarifying power of economic reasoning to dispel some myths and misconceptions in the racial affirmative action debates.  We enumerate seven commonly held (but mistaken) views one often encounters in the folklore about affirmative action (affirmative action may involve goals and timelines, but definitely not quotas, e.g.).  Simple economic arguments reveal these seven views to be more myth than fact"--National Bureau of Economic Research web site.
Notes: "June 2005."

Includes bibliographical references (p. 24-26).

Also available in PDF from the NBER world wide web site (www.nber.org).