Colleges and universities that adopt early decision (ED) as an admission practice are able to generate additional resources by attracting wealthier students who, upon admission, make binding commitments to attend and to forgo shopping for competing aid offers. An unanswered question is whether...

Many schools rely on early decision (ED) as an admission practice. Schools that adopt ED are able to generate additional resources by attracting wealthier students who, upon admission, make binding commitments to attend and to forego shopping for competing aid offers. An unanswered question is...

This paper presents a comprehensive examination of the empirical literature testing the academic mismatch hypothesis as it applies to affirmative action and students of color in U.S. higher education. The primary focus of this paper is the mismatch research addressing American legal education...

Using administrative data from a large 4-year public university, we show that male students are 18.6 percent more likely than female students to receive favorable grade changes. These gender differences cannot be explained by observable characteristics of the students, instructors, and the...

Research shows that minority children enter the labor market with lower levels of acquired skill than do white children. This paper attempts to analyze one possible cause: the impact of a perceived lack of future opportunities on the human capital development of minority children. I take...

In this brief call to action, the authors decry disciplinary elitism. A large number of academics in various disciplines actually believe that their discipline alone has the answer to how the world works. This sort of academic bigotry runs rampant through our myriad ivied and hallowed halls, and...

This paper analyzes the labor market for collegiate football players and argues that professional football teams have discriminating preferences when making their hiring decisions. An empirical analysis of panel data of 32 NFL teams in recent seasons is carried out to test the effects of such...

This paper examines student incentives when faced with a college admissions policy which pursues student body diversity. The effect of a diversify-conscious admissions policy critically depends on the design of the policy. If the admissions policy fails to incentivize students from a...

When candidates from two groups compete for admission to college, we show that a college maximizes the test scores of its incoming class by adopting an admissions rule that favors the weaker group. Such "handicapping" of the weaker group increases competition and induces both groups to invest...