Affirmative Action around the World: An Empirical Study

From Booklist
Preferring members of specified groups in higher education, employment, receipt of government services, getting business contracts, and so on is a worldwide phenomenon whose effects are demonstrable. Black economist Sowell focuses on affirmative action in India, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Nigeria, and the U.S. In those nations, preferences for minorities metamorphosed into preferences for majorities (e.g., women, when made affirmative-action candidates in the U.S., tipped the numbers of the preferred to more than half the populace), intergroup friction increased (Sri Lanka, once a model of ethnic cooperation, descended into civil war, as did Nigeria), "brain drain" occurred (in Malaysia, preferences for less-educated Malays led to massive Chinese emigration and the ouster of Chinese-dominated Singapore from the Malay federation), and/or something else bad happened. Most damning is that in all five countries, the upper crust of preferred groups reaped the lion's share of benefits. Affirmative action is never rejected, however, because it is evaluated "in terms of its rationales and goals rather than its actual consequences." Invaluable argumentation, more accessible than usual for Sowell. Ray Olson
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Book Description
This book moves the discussion of affirmative action beyond the United States to other countries that have had similar policies, often for a longer time than Americans have. It also moves the discussion beyond the theories, principles, and laws that have been so often debated to the actual empirical consequences of affirmative action in the United States and in India, Nigeria, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and other countries. Both common patterns and national differences are examined. Much of what emerges from a factual examination of these policies flatly contradicts much of what was expected and much of what has been claimed.

From the Back Cover
"Another brilliant, bracing achievement by Thomas Sowell. With characteristic lucidity, erudition, and depth, Sowell examines the true effects of affirmative action around the globe. This book is compelling, important, mind-opening."-Amy Chua, author of World on Fire: How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability; "A masterpiece that deserves to be one of the most influential books of our time. Any honest reader will be informed and enlightened."-Donald Kagan, Yale University; "A gem of a book. A brilliant and learned analysis of the negative effects of racially preferential policies both in the United States and in several other countries around the world." - Stephan Thernstrom, Harvard University

About the Author
Thomas Sowell is the Rose and Milton Friedman Senior Fellow in Public Policy at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. The author of numerous books, most recently Barbarians Inside the Gates and The Quest for Cosmic Justice, he also writes a nationally syndicated column that appears in more than 150 newspapers and contributes regularly to Forbes magazine. He has taught economics at various colleges and universities, including Cornell, Amherst, and the University of California-Los Angeles.


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Author Biography: Thomas Sowell is the Rose and Milton Friedman Senior Fellow in Public Policy at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. The author of numerous books, most recently Barbarians Inside the Gates and The Quest for Cosmic Justice, he also writes a nationally syndicated column that appears in more than 150 newspapers and contributes regularly to Forbes magazine. He has taught economics at various colleges and universities, including Cornell, Amherst, and the University of California-Los Angeles.


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