What Promises Are Worth: The Impact of Affirmative Action Goals

Affirmative action goals and timetables have been criticized by some as being ineffective and by others as being a system of rigid quotas. In this paper I present estimates of the impact of detailed regulatory pressure on goals and on subsequent demographics. While the goals are inflated and are not being fulfilled with the rigidity one might expect of quotas, the establishments that promise to employ more minorities and females do actually employ more in subsequent years. While the detailed enforcement tools are of doubtful utility, the system of affirmative action goals does appear to have promoted increases in minority and female employment at reviewed establishments.