Mismatch in Law School

Rothstein, Jesse; Yoon, Albert

doi:10.2139/ssrn.881110

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Mismatch in Law School

Northwestern Law & Econ Research Paper No. 881110

Princeton Law and Public Affairs Working Paper No. 07-008

53 Pages Posted: 7 Feb 2006

See all articles by Jesse Rothstein

Jesse Rothstein

University of California, Berkeley, The Richard & Rhoda Goldman School of Public Policy; University of California, Berkeley, College of Letters & Science, Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Albert Yoon

University of Toronto Faculty of Law

There are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: February 1, 2006

Abstract

An important criticism of affirmative action policies in admissions is that they may hurt minority students who are thereby induced to attend selective schools. We use two comparisons to identify so-called mismatch effects in law schools, with consistent results. Black students attain better employment outcomes than do whites with similar credentials. Any mismatch effects on graduation and bar exam passage rates are confined to the bottom quintile of the entering credentials distribution, where selection bias is an important, potentially confounding factor. Elite law schools' use of affirmative action thus does not appear to generate mismatch effects.

Keywords: affirmative action, mismatch, admissions, law school

JEL Classification: I21, J24, J44, J7, K30

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Rothstein, Jesse and Yoon, Albert, Mismatch in Law School (February 1, 2006). Northwestern Law & Econ Research Paper No. 881110, Princeton Law and Public Affairs Working Paper No. 07-008, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=881110 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.881110