Transitions in affirmative action

A social preference for proportional (or simply increased) participation of minorities in labor markets implies a transition from a regime of segregat ion (intentional or not) to one of proportional (or increased) participatio n. In this paper we examine this transition in a formal model of a minority , an employer and an educator. We use the implications of our model to appr aise the legal responses to unintentional discrimination, using examples pr imarily from gender discrimination. The law is found to inhibit this transi tion, to prevent operation of its own provisions favoring minorities in cas es of past discrimination, to ignore means other than the elimination of st ructural discrimination for increasing minority participation, to prevent c oordination of educators and employers that could further policy goals, and to prevent agreements that would provide the public good of integration. ( C) 1999 by Elsevier Science Inc.