Sorting through affirmative action: Three field experiments in Colombia

Marcela Ibañez, Ashok Rai and Gerhard Riener

No 183, DICE Discussion Papers from Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE)

Abstract: Affirmative action to promote women's employment is a intensely debated policy. Do affirmative action policies attract women and does it come at a cost of deterring high qualified men? In three field experiments in Colombia we compare characteristics of job-seekers who are told of the affirmative action selection criterion before they apply with those who are only told after applying. We find that the gains in attracting female applicants far outweigh the losses in male applicants. Affirmative action is more effective in areas with larger female discrimination and deters male job-seekers from areas with low discrimination.

Keywords: Field experiment; Affirmative action; Labor market; Gender participation gap (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C93 J21 J24 J48 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp, nep-lam, nep-lma and nep-ltv
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Journal Article: Sorting through Affirmative Action: Three Field Experiments in Colombia (2018)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:dicedp:183

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