Does Banning Affirmative Action Lower College Student Quality?

Banning affirmative action from college admissions cannot prevent an admissions office that cares about diversity from achieving it in ways other than explicitly considering race. We model college admissions where candidates from two groups with different average qualiÞcations compete for a Þxed number of seats. Under affirmative action, an admissions office that cares both about quality and diversity admits the best-qualiÞed candidates from each group. Under a ban, it may promote diversity by partially ignoring candidates’ qualiÞcations and therefore not admitting the best-qualiÞed candidates from either group. A ban always reduces diversity and may also lower quality. (JEL J71 ,J 15, I28)