The limits of meritocracy or why quote regulations are indispensable

Economic theory has shown that economic discrimination can not persist for longer periods due to the intervention of market mechanisms. In contrast to this view, this article will demonstrate by using a theoretical model that in typical selection situations the practice of admitting persons to educational institutions while strongly discriminating against a particular group of applicants does not affect important success indicators of those educational institutions. As this observation also holds true under very general circumstances with respect to test reliabilities and distributional assumptions, it therefore can be used as a theoretical basis for many empirical investigations of persisting discrimination in non-economic spheres and for a general critique of meritocratic selection procedures. Adapted from the source document.