Justifying affirmative action: Highway construction in Louisiana.

Using data from Louisiana's Department of Transportation and Development for the years 1985-89 and a 1990 survey of construction firms doing business in Louisiana, the authors examine whether firms owned by minorities and women faced discrimination in the awarding of contracts in the state's public highway construction program. No evidence of discrimination is shown by a regression analysis, and only weak, ambiguous evidence of discrimination is shown by a disparity ratio analysis. The authors conclude that the sampled firms did not face discrimination in the years examined. (Abstract courtesy JSTOR.)