סמינר בהתנהגות ארגונית

Anat Bracha

The Federal Reserve

Bank of Boston

Abstract

This paper provides experimental evidence on the effect of affirmative action (AA). In particular, we investigate whether affirmative action has a ”stereotype threat effect.” That is, whether AA cues a negative stereotype that leads individuals to conform to it and adversely affects their performance. This effect is especially significant for individuals who identify the most with the domain of the stereotype and who engage in complex stereotype-relevant tasks. We explore this question in the context of gender-based AA for a complex math task. In this context the stereotype is most relevant for high-ability women and works in the opposite direction to AA’s competition effect that encourages women to compete. We find that, consistent with the presence of a stereotype threat, AA has an overall adverse effect on the performance of high-ability women performing complex math tasks.