Consequences of Affirmative Action in US Higher Education

This paper seeks to contribute to greater mutual understanding of positive discrimination in India and the US by describing and reviewing some important empirical work that has recently been carried out to evaluate the effects of affirmative action in the US higher education. Until recently the debate on the wisdom of positive discrimination policies has been largely theoretical, appealing to ethical considerations and political-philosophical values. Now, however, systematic empirical evidence on the long-term consequences of affirmative action policies in admissions to US colleges and universities has at last been made available and can be brought to bear on the discussion.