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  3. American Economic Review
  4. September 2000
  5. Mentoring and Diversity

American Economic Review

ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)

Mentoring and Diversity

  • Susan Athey
  • Christopher Avery
  • Peter Zemsky
American Economic Review
vol. 90, no. 4, September 2000
(pp. 765–786)
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Abstract

We study how diversity evolves at a firm with entry-level and upper-level employees who vary in ability and "type" (gender or ethnicity). The ability of entry-level employees is increased by mentoring. An employ receives more mentoring when more upper-level employees have the same type. Optimal promotions are biased by type, and this bias may favor either the minority or the majority. We characterize possible steady states, including a "glass ceiling," where the upper level remains less diverse than the entry level. A firm may have multiple steady states, whereby temporary affirmative-action policies have a long-run impact.

Citation

Athey, Susan, Christopher Avery, and Peter Zemsky. 2000. "Mentoring and Diversity." American Economic Review 90 (4): 765–786. DOI: 10.1257/aer.90.4.765

JEL Classification

  • J71 Labor Discrimination
  • J15 Economics of Minorities and Races; Non-labor Discrimination
  • J16 Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
  • J41 Labor Contracts