English

Diversity Preferences, Affirmative Action and Choice Rules

Theoretical Economics 2023-10-24 v1

Abstract

I study the relationship between diversity preferences and the choice rules implemented by institutions, with a particular focus on the affirmative action policies. I characterize the choice rules that can be rationalized by diversity preferences and demonstrate that the recently rescinded affirmative action mechanism used to allocate government positions in India cannot be rationalized. I show that if institutions evaluate diversity without considering intersectionality of identities, their choices cannot satisfy the crucial substitutes condition. I characterize choice rules that satisfy the substitutes condition and are rationalizable by preferences that are separable in diversity and match quality domains.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2310.14442,
  title  = {Diversity Preferences, Affirmative Action and Choice Rules},
  author = {Oguzhan Celebi},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2310.14442},
  year   = {2023}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-28T12:58:15.808Z