Discuss the controversy surrounding affirmative action. How does this controversy illustrate the trade-off between equality and efficiency?
What will be an ideal response?
Critics claim that affirmative action amounts to numerical quotas and compulsory hiring of unqualified workers simply because they are black or female. If this allegation is true, it exacts a toll on economic efficiency. Proponents of affirmative action argue that affirmative action is needed to redress past wrongs and to prevent discriminatory employers from claiming that they are unable to find qualified minority or female employees.The difficulty revolves around the impossibility of deciding who is “qualified” and who is not based on purely objective criteria. What one person sees as government coercion to hire an unqualified applicant to fill a quota, another sees as a discriminatory employer being forced to mend his or her ways. Putting more women and members of minority groups into high-paying jobs would certainly make the income distribution more equal. Supporters of affirmative action seek that result. But if affirmative action disrupts industry and requires firms to replace “qualified” white males with other, “less qualified” workers, the nation’s productivity will suffer.
You might also like to view...
The Ricardo-Barro effect holds that
A) equal increases in taxes and government expenditures have no effect on equilibrium real GDP. B) government budget deficits have no effect on the real interest rate. C) a government budget deficit crowds out private investment. D) a government budget deficit induces a decrease in saving that magnifies the crowding out effect.
An investment bank purchases securities from a corporation at a predetermined price and then resells them in the market. This process is called
A) underwriting. B) underhanded. C) understanding. D) undertaking.
Along a linear demand curve, as the price increases from zero,
a. demand decreases b. demand increases c. quantity demanded increases d. total revenue first increases but eventually decreases e. total revenue first decreases but eventually increases
If a flat tax plan allowed individuals to deduct a standard allowance of $20,000 and the flat tax rate was 20 percent, an individual earning $100,000 would pay an average tax rate of 20%
a. True b. False Indicate whether the statement is true or false