Minority Business Enterprise Programmes in the United States of America: An Empirical Investigation

Affirmative action in the United States has generated no shortage of academic, legal, and popular analysis. Yet few ever ask, let alone test, the most fundamental question about affirmative action - whether it actually works. This article provides an historical overview of affirmative action in the United States, briefly reviews its legal status, and then tests the effectiveness of one type of affirmative action in three American cities between 1981 and 2000. It finds that affirmative action in government contracting does not significantly increase minority employment and is statistically insignificant in eradicating discrimination in contracting.