TY  - JOUR
AU  - Leonard,Jonathan S.
TI  - What Promises Are Worth:  The Impact of Affirmative Action Goals
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 1346
PY  - 1984
Y2  - May 1984
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w1346
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w1346.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Jonathan S.. Leonard
Graduate School of Business
350 Barrows Hall
University of California
Berkeley, CA  94720
Tel: 415/642-7048
E-Mail: leonard@haas.berkeley.edu
AB  - Affirmative action goals and timetables for the employment of minorities and females have been criticized by some as being ineffective,and by others as being a system of rigid quotas. Using new data from OFCCP administrative records, this paper estimates the impact of detailed regulatory pressure on goals and on subsequent employment demographics. It also tests for the information content of the goals.While the goals are inflated and are not being fulfilled with the rigidity one might expect of quotas, the establishments that promise to employ more minorities and females do actually employ more in subsequent years. While the detailed enforcement tools of the compliance review process are of doubtful utility, the system of affirmative action goals does appear to have prompted increases in minority and female employment at reviewed establishments.
ER  -