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Hannah Schildberg-Hörisch, Marco A Schwarz, Chi Trieu, Jana Willrodt, Perceived Fairness and Consequences of Affirmative Action Policies, The Economic Journal, Volume 133, Issue 656, November 2023, Pages 3099–3135, https://doi.org/10.1093/ej/uead063
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Abstract
Debates about affirmative action often revolve around fairness. In a laboratory experiment, we study three quota rules in tournaments that favour individuals whose performance is low, either due to discrimination, low productivity, or choice of a short working time. Affirmative action favouring discriminated individuals is perceived as fairest, followed by that targeting individuals with a short working time, while favouring low-productivity individuals is not perceived as fairer than an absence of affirmative action. Higher fairness perceptions coincide with a higher willingness to compete and less retaliation against winners, underlining that fairness perceptions matter for the consequences of affirmative action.