Responsible researcher: Bruno Benevit
Author: Peter Hinrichs
Original title: Affirmative Action and Racial Segregation
Intervention Location: United States
Sample Size: 2,068 state-years
Sector: Education Economics
Variable of Main Interest: Racial segregation in colleges
Type of Intervention: Removal of affirmative actions
Methodology: OLS, Event Study
Summary
Given the racial inequalities present in the United States, disparities in access to higher education between whites and minorities are part of this context. Affirmative actions were designed with the aim of reducing these historically established differences within the college environment in the country. This study analyzed how state bans on affirmative action in colleges in different periods affected racial segregation in these educational institutes. The results indicated that affirmative action bans increased college segregation in some cases but reduced it in others. Specifically, early affirmative action bans in states with highly selective public universities were associated with less segregation, whereas more recent bans were associated with greater segregation.
Affirmative actions were policies designed with the aim of increasing the enrollment of minorities in higher education, and their implementation was widespread in the United States during the 1960s and 1970s. In the context of the United States, these policies were designed with the aim of reducing differences historically established within the college environment in the country (HINRICHS, 2020). Recently, affirmative actions have been defended due to the educational gains arising from increased diversity in academic environments, an argument supported by the Supreme Court when judging it constitutional.
However, in recent years, several states in the country have stopped using affirmative action at their public universities, resulting from direct voting decisions, legislative actions and executive orders from different states. As a result, several studies identified that the discontinuation of affirmative actions caused the entry of minorities into selective colleges, but did not reduce the participation of minorities in general.
Removing affirmative action could have diverse effects on racial interactions in higher education. If the end of these policies reduces minority enrollment in more selective institutions, displaced students may be redistributed to universities with high or low concentrations of minorities (ARCIDIACONO; AUCEJO; HOTZ, 2016; REARDON; BAKER; KLASIK, 2012). Therefore, it is important to understand how this redistribution affects the general panorama of universities, as the impact is not only on the diversity of an institution, but on racial interaction throughout the higher education system.
Considering the application or discontinuation of affirmative actions, the distribution of minorities in colleges varies according to the institutions' level of selectivity. The relationship between the proportion of minority students and college selectivity does not follow a fixed pattern, being influenced by several factors, including the presence or absence of affirmative action policies. More selective colleges tend to have lower representation of minority students, especially in states where affirmative action has been banned. Without these policies, minorities are likely to be displaced from highly selective institutions to less selective colleges. However, this displacement may occur differently depending on the college level, with minorities being relocated to mid-sized or less selective institutions that previously had little minority representation.
The effects of affirmative action on racial segregation among colleges are ambiguous. Banning these policies could increase segregation by moving minorities to already segregated institutions, or reduce segregation by redistributing students to colleges that previously had little racial diversity. Furthermore, there are scenarios in which these changes do not significantly affect segregation, since displacements that increase segregation can be offset by those that decrease it.
In this sense, analyzing the impact of affirmative actions on segregation requires detailed data on the racial composition of each college, as changes in the average racial composition of institutions do not necessarily capture the real segregation between them. While the impacts of banning affirmative action may not have significant effects on minority representation at universities in general, the compositions between universities may change drastically. Especially when considering the quality of institutions, the authors argue the existence of a U-shaped relationship between the quality of colleges and the representation of minorities: affirmative actions promote a distribution with a greater concentration of minorities in more and less selective institutions. Thus, results vary depending on student redistribution dynamics and college returns.
The study used data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), a dataset on higher education institutions collected annually by the US National Center for Education Statistics. Institutions participating in federal financial aid programs are required to complete IPEDS surveys, providing information about enrollment, costs, institutional finances, and other characteristics.
For this analysis of this study, data from four-year colleges on the number of undergraduate students entering for the first time and studying full-time, categorized by race, from 1995 to 2016 were considered. of racial segregation at the state level.
The segregation metrics used by the authors included three standard indices: (i) the white-to-black exposure index, (ii) the black-to-white exposure index, and (iii) the dissimilarity index between whites and blacks. Exposure indices were constructed separately for whites and blacks, and measure the potential for interaction between racial groups. The White-to-Black Exposure Index calculated the percentage of black students at the institution attended by the average white student, while the Black-to-White Exposure Index measures the percentage of white students at the institution attended by the average black student. Finally, the dissimilarity index assessed how unequally distributed students of different races are between institutions, indicating the percentage of students of a given race that would need to be reallocated for all colleges to have the same racial composition.
The study used the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression method to analyze how affirmative action bans affect the demographic composition of universities at different levels of selectivity between 1995 and 2016. The model estimated the participation of students from different racial groups in an institution by considering whether or not a state has implemented a ban on affirmative action. The regressions included control variables such as institution, year fixed effects, and state-specific time trends. The OLS method was weighted by the total number of enrollments at each institution and with robust standard errors, with clustering at the state level. In addition to the full sample of four-year institutions, the study also considered analyzes for subsamples of public universities and institutions ranked among the best in college rankings.
The study also estimated an Event Study model to estimate the impact of affirmative action bans on racial segregation in colleges taking into account the segregation rates calculated for each state over the years. The regressions were weighted according to the racial composition of institutions and include state fixed effects and specific time trends to reduce bias arising from different segregation trajectories across states. In this method, the objective was to analyze whether the segregation trajectories before the ban were comparable between states that adopted the ban measure and those that did not adopt it.
Finally, the study presented a California case study to analyze the relationship between college quality and minority representation following the ban on affirmative action in the state. Thus, the research examined how the ban affected the redistribution of black students between universities with different levels of selectivity. The objective was to explore the hypothesis that racial segregation could decrease due to the redistribution of black students to less selective colleges, causing greater homogeneity in the racial composition of institutions and reducing racial segregation between them.
Analyzes using the OLS method revealed that affirmative action bans were associated with a decrease in the representation of black, Hispanic, and Native American students, and an increase in the representation of Asians and whites, especially at more selective institutions. US News and World Report rankings . Between 1995 and 2016, the ban led to statistically significant reductions in the presence of minorities, with different impacts over time. In more recent periods, declines in black and Hispanic enrollment have been smaller, suggesting heterogeneity in treatment effects over time and across different levels of selectivity.
Regarding the analyzes that used the OLS method to estimate the impact of the ban on affirmative actions on segregation between whites and blacks, the results showed non-significant effects. For the period from 1995 to 2016, the exposure of whites to blacks decreased slightly, while the exposure of blacks to whites and the dissimilarity index between blacks and whites showed statistically insignificant variations. However, when considering specific periods, such as 1995–2003 and 2004–16, there was evidence that the bans affected segregation differently over time. While older bans were associated with a reduction in segregation, more recent bans have pointed to increased segregation.
Referring to the Event Study, results suggested that prior to a ban, there were no significant differences in pre-existing trends between states with and without a ban. For the period 1995–2003, there was a significant increase in exposure of blacks to whites and a decrease in dissimilarity between races in the year of the ban. On the other hand, the period 2004–16 showed a slight decrease in black-to-white exposure and an increase in dissimilarity.
The results identified in the analysis of the relationship between the quality of colleges and the representation of minorities in the state of California showed significant changes after the ban on affirmative actions in 1998. There was an increase in the exposure of blacks to whites that year, despite the downward trend over time. Furthermore, the dissimilarity rate between blacks and whites showed a considerable reduction soon after the ban. Furthermore, a reduction in heterogeneity in the distribution of minorities according to the selectivity of colleges was observed, indicating a flattening of the U-shaped curve that describes the relationship between the quality of universities and the presence of minorities and suggesting a decrease in the segregation between universities. The likely explanation is that without affirmative action, black students were redistributed, especially among moderately selective institutions.
In this article, the authors conducted several empirical approaches to analyze how state bans on affirmative action in the United States affected racial segregation in colleges. The results indicated that the bans had heterogeneous effects over time, with a reduction in racial segregation in the most selective institutions shortly after the first bans, while, in more recent periods, a trend of increasing segregation was observed in some regions. Additionally, the authors found evidence that the bans resulted in a redistribution of black students, especially among institutions with different levels of selectivity.
The evidence in this article provides relevant information about the consequences of affirmative action bans for racial segregation in higher education, offering support for the formulation of public educational policies. The authors highlight that, considering the dynamics observed, policies that promote greater inclusion and reduce institutional barriers in universities with different levels of selectivity can contribute to mitigating the effects of increased racial segregation in some regions, especially in states that have adopted the most severe bans. recently.
References
ARCIDIACONO, P.; AUCEJO, EM; HOTZ, VJ University Differences in the Graduation of Minorities in STEM Fields: Evidence from California. American Economic Review , vol. 106, no. 3, p. 525–562, 1 Mar. 2016.
HINRICHS, P. Affirmative Action and Racial Segregation. The Journal of Law and Economics , vol. 63, n. 2, p. 239–267, 1 May 2020.
REARDON, SF; BAKER, R.; KLASIK, D. Race, Income, and Enrollment Patterns in Highly Selective Colleges, 1982–2004 . StanfordStanford University, Center for Education Policy Analysis, 2012.
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