Sorting through affirmative action: Three field experiments in Colombia

Arbeitspapier

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.

Object Details

• ISBN: 978-3-86304-182-3
• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: DICE Discussion Paper ; No. 183

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure ; Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity ; Particular Labor Markets: Public Policy ; Field Experiments
• Subject: Field experiment ; Affirmative action ; Labor market ; Gender participation gap

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Ibañez, Marcela ; Rai, Ashok ; Riener, Gerhard
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE)
• (where): Düsseldorf
• (when): 2015

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/109211
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET