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Minority Business Enterprise Programmes in the United States of America: An Empirical Investigation
Author(s) -
Sweet Martin J.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of law and society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.263
H-Index - 48
eISSN - 1467-6478
pISSN - 0263-323X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-6478.2006.00353.x
Subject(s) - affirmative action , economic shortage , government (linguistics) , political science , test (biology) , action (physics) , public administration , law , physics , quantum mechanics , biology , paleontology , linguistics , philosophy
Affirmative action in the United States has generated no shortage of academic, legal, and popular analysis. Yet few ever ask, let alone test, the most fundamental question about affirmative action ‐ whether it actually works. This article provides an historical overview of affirmative action in the United States, briefly reviews its legal status, and then tests the effectiveness of one type of affirmative action in three American cities between 1981 and 2000. It finds that affirmative action in government contracting does not significantly increase minority employment and is statistically insignificant in eradicating discrimination in contracting.