000			01690nam a22001457a 4500
999			_c518027 _d518027
008			210810b ||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
100			_aEllison, Glenn and Pathak, Parag A. _928418
245			_aThe efficiency of race-neutral alternatives to race-based affirmative action: Evidence from Chicago’s exam schools
260			_aThe American Economic Review
300			_a3(3), Mar, 2021: p.943-975
520			_aSeveral K-12 and university systems have adopted race-neutral affirmative action in place of race-based alternatives. This paper explores whether these plans are effective substitutes for racial quotas in Chicago Public Schools (CPS), which now employs a race-neutral, place-based affirmative action system at its selective exam high schools. The CPS plan is ineffective compared to plans that explicitly consider race: about three-quarters of the reduction in average entrance scores at the top schools could have been avoided with the same level of racial diversity. Moreover, the CPS plan is less effective at adding low-income students than was the previous system of racial quotas. We develop a theoretical framework that motivates quantifying the inefficiency of race-neutral policies based on the distortion in student preparedness they create for a given level of diversity and use it to evaluate several alternatives. The CPS plan can be improved in several ways, but no race-neutral policy restores minority representation to prior levels without substantially greater distortions, implying significant efficiency costs from prohibitions on the explicit use of race. – Reproduced
773			_aThe American Economic Review
906			_aRACISM
942			_cAR