Working Paper: NBER ID: w18884
Authors: Aaron K. Chatterji; Kenneth Y. Chay; Robert W. Fairlie
Abstract: In the 1980s, many U.S. cities initiated programs reserving a proportion of government contracts for minority-owned businesses. The staggered introduction of these set-aside programs is used to estimate their impacts on the self-employment and employment rates of African-American men. Black business ownership rates increased significantly after program initiation, with the black-white gap falling three percentage points. The evidence that the racial gap in employment also fell is less clear as it is depends on assumptions about the continuation of pre-existing trends. The black gains were concentrated in industries heavily affected by set-asides and mostly benefited the better educated.
Keywords: affirmative action; contracting setasides; black self-employment; employment rates; minority-owned businesses
JEL Codes: H76; J15; L26
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| black self-employment rates (J79) | racial gap in employment (J79) |
| city contracting setasides (H57) | black self-employment rates (J79) |
| city contracting setasides (H57) | racial gap in employment (J79) |
| city contracting setasides (H57) | reallocation of self-employment from white to black men (J79) |