Peer effects in affirmative action
Subtitle: evidence from law student performace
By: John R. Lott & J. Mark Ramseyer
Contributors: Ramseyer, J. Mark; John M. Olin Center for Law, Economics, and Business
Series: Discussion paper -- no. 581; Discussion paper (John M. Olin Center for Law, Economics, and Business : Online) -- no. 581.
Publisher: Harvard Law School
Published: 2007
Place of publication: Cambridge, MA
Language: eng
Format: [electronic resource] :
Number of pages: 29
Description: "In the Grutter case, Justice O'Connor suggested that universities could justifiably try to enroll a "critical mass" of minority students.  Enroll fewer than that "critical mass," reason some observers, and minority students will feel too marginalized to perform at their highest levels.  In this article, we test whether minority students perform better with other students from their ethnic group in a class or school.  To do so, we assemble data on the ethnicity and performance of each student in all classes at two law schools -- for three years at one, and for sixteen years at the other.  We find no consistent evidence that having additional students from one's ethnic group raises a student's performance.  Instead, we find some evidence that having additional ethnic peers lowers performance -- albeit by a very small amount.  (US, Canada)"--John M. Olin Center for Law, Economics, and Business web site.
Notes: Title from PDF file as viewed on 6/28/2007.

Includes bibliographical references.

Also available in print.

System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Mode of access: World Wide Web.