TY  - JOUR
AU  - Arcidiacono,Peter
AU  - Aucejo,Esteban
AU  - Coate,Patrick
AU  - Hotz,V. Joseph
TI  - Affirmative Action and University Fit:  Evidence from Proposition 209
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 18523
PY  - 2012
Y2  - November 2012
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w18523
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w18523.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Peter Arcidiacono
Department of Economics
201A Social Sciences Building
Duke University
Durham, NC 27708
Tel: 919/660-1816
Fax: 919/684-8974
E-Mail: psarcidi@econ.duke.edu

Esteban M. Aucejo
Department of Economics
London School of Economics and Political Science
Houghton Street, London, WC2A 2AE
CEP, Office 2.29
United Kingdom
Tel: 020 7852 3563
E-Mail: E.M.Aucejo@lse.ac.uk

Patrick Coate
Box 90097
Duke University
Durham, NC 27708
E-Mail: patrick.coate@duke.edu

V. Joseph Hotz
Department of Economics
Box 90097
Duke University
Durham, NC 27708-0097
Tel: 919-660-1841
Fax: 919-684-8974
E-Mail: hotz@econ.duke.edu
AB  - Proposition 209 banned using racial preferences in admissions at California's public colleges. We analyze unique data for all applicants and enrollees within the University of California (UC) system before and after Prop 209. After Prop 209, graduation rates of minorities increased by 4.4%. We characterize conditions required for better matching of students to campuses to account for this increase. We find that  Prop 209 did improve matching and this improvement was important for the graduation gains experienced by less-prepared students. At the same time, better matching only explains about 20% of the overall graduation rate increase. Changes after Prop 209 in the selectivity of enrolled students explains 34-50% of the increase. Finally, it appears UC campuses responded to Prop 209 by doing more to help retain and graduate its students, which explains between 30-46% of the post-Prop 209 improvement in the graduation rate of minorities.
ER  -