Scotchmer, Suzanne. <br/><br/>
Affirmative Action in Hierarchies / 
Suzanne Scotchmer. 
 - Cambridge, Mass.  National Bureau of Economic Research  2005. 
 - 1 online resource:  illustrations (black and white); 
 - NBER working paper series  no. w11213 .
 - Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research)  no. w11213. .
<br/><br/> March 2005. 
<br/><br/> If promotion in a hierarchy is based on a random signal of ability, rates of promotion will be affected by risk-taking. Further, the numbers and abilities of risk-takers and non-risk-takers will be different at each stage of the hierarchy, and the ratio will be changing. I show that, under mild conditions, more risk-takers than non-risk-takers will survive at early stages, but they will have lower ability. At later stages, this will be reversed: Fewer risk-takers than non-risk-takers survive, but they will have higher ability. I give several interpretations for how these theorems relate to affirmative action, in light of considerable evidence that males are more risk-taking than females. 
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