Peter Arcidiacono (born 1971) is an American
economist
An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social science discipline of economics.
The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this field there are ...
and
econometrician
Econometrics is the application of statistical methods to economic data in order to give empirical content to economic relationships. M. Hashem Pesaran (1987). "Econometrics," '' The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics'', v. 2, p. 8 p. 8 ...
.
He received his PhD from
Wisconsin
Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
in 1999 and has taught at
Duke University ever since.
He became a fellow of the
Econometric Society
The Econometric Society is an international society of academic economists interested in applying statistical tools to their field. It is an independent organization with no connections to societies of professional mathematicians or statisticians. ...
in 2018.
Arcidiacono is known for his research contributions to three fields:
affirmative action in
higher education
Higher education is tertiary education leading to award of an academic degree. Higher education, also called post-secondary education, third-level or tertiary education, is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after comple ...
,
structural estimation of
dynamic discrete choice models, and
college major
An academic major is the academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits. A student who successfully completes all courses required for the major qualifies for an undergraduate degree. The word ''major'' (also called ''conce ...
choice, having written survey papers on each topic.
He has also published papers on
peer effects,
racial discrimination
Racial discrimination is any discrimination against any individual on the basis of their skin color, race or ethnic origin.Individuals can discriminate by refusing to do business with, socialize with, or share resources with people of a certain g ...
, the
minimum wage, and marriage markets.
Education and career
Peter S. Arcidiacono was born in
Oregon
Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...
in 1971. He graduated from
Tigard High School in 1990, completed a B.S. in Economics in 1993 at
Willamette University
Willamette University is a private liberal arts college with locations in Salem and Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1842, it is the oldest college in the Western United States. Originally named the Oregon Institute, the school was an unaffiliated ...
, and received his Ph.D. in Economics from the
University of Wisconsin–Madison
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...
in 1999 under the supervision of John Kennan.
Arcidiacono has spent his entire academic career at
Duke University (assistant professor, 1999–2006,
associate professor, 2006–2010, and full professor, 2010–present).
Research and contributions
Affirmative action in higher education
Arcidiacono's research on
affirmative action in higher education has centered on the theme that there exists a trade-off between institutional quality and the fit between a school and a student.
Thus, students who are admitted under affirmative action may be made worse off due to lack of academic preparation.
Arcidiacono's expertise in this field led to his being hired as an expert witness in the ''
Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College'' and ''Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina'' lawsuits.
Dynamic discrete choice models
Arcidiacono, along with Robert A. Miller and John Bailey Jones, is the co-developer of using the
Expectation–maximization algorithm
In statistics, an expectation–maximization (EM) algorithm is an iterative method to find (local) maximum likelihood or maximum a posteriori (MAP) estimates of parameters in statistical models, where the model depends on unobserved latent variabl ...
and conditional choice probabilities (CCPs) to simplify the
maximum likelihood estimation
In statistics, maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) is a method of estimating the parameters of an assumed probability distribution, given some observed data. This is achieved by maximizing a likelihood function so that, under the assumed stati ...
of structural econometric models.
These methods allow a researcher to estimate the structural parameters of an economic model in stages because of additive separability in the objective function. Additionally, CCPs allow the researcher to estimate the structural parameters without having to fully solve the agent's dynamic decision problem. Both approaches result in substantial computational gains.
College major choice
Arcidiacono's work on
college major
An academic major is the academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits. A student who successfully completes all courses required for the major qualifies for an undergraduate degree. The word ''major'' (also called ''conce ...
choice has used dynamic discrete choice models to understand how much student decisions are driven by future labor market earnings versus other factors, such as academic ability, enjoyment of college coursework, or future occupational match.
He has also used elicited expectations models to answer similar questions.
Arcidiacono's paper with Esteban Aucejo and Ken Spenner, entitled ''What happens after enrollment? An analysis of the time path of racial differences in GPA and major choice'', analyzed data from Duke University and found that African American students switch out of more academically difficult majors at higher rates than their peers. However, the study found no gap in switching once adjusting for differences in academic background. Members of the Duke University Black Student Alliance protested the paper.
Professional service
Arcidiacono has served in several editorial positions since 2007:
* Co-editor, ''
Quantitative Economics'', (July 2016–present)
* Foreign editor, ''
Review of Economic Studies
''The Review of Economic Studies'' (also known as ''REStud'') is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering economics. It was established in 1933 by a group of economists based in Britain and the United States. The original editorial team ...
'' (October 2011 – October 2017)
* Associate editor, ''
Journal of Applied Econometrics
The ''Journal of Applied Econometrics'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering econometrics, published by John Wiley & Sons. It focuses on applications rather than theoretical issues. It was established in 1986 and is published seven times p ...
'', (January 2007–present)
* Associate editor, ''
AEJ: Applied Economics'', (May 2009 – May 2012)
* Editor, ''
Journal of Labor Economics
A journal, from the Old French ''journal'' (meaning "daily"), may refer to:
*Bullet journal, a method of personal organization
*Diary, a record of what happened over the course of a day or other period
*Daybook, also known as a general journal, a ...
'', (July 2008 – July 2013)
* Co-editor, ''
Economic Inquiry'', (December 2007 – January 2011)
University admissions lawsuits
Along with
Richard D. Kahlenberg, Arcidiacono was hired by
Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) to serve as an
expert witness
An expert witness, particularly in common law countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States, is a person whose opinion by virtue of education, training, certification, skills or experience, is accepted by the judge as ...
in the ''
Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College'' lawsuit, which was heard by
Allison Dale Burroughs in
Massachusetts federal district court in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
in October 2018. Harvard hired
Ruth Simmons
Ruth Simmons (born Ruth Jean Stubblefield, July 3, 1945) is an American professor and academic administrator. She is president of Prairie View A&M University, a historically black university.
Simmons previously served as the 18th president of B ...
and
David Card
David Edward Card (born 1956) is a Canadian-American labour economist and professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley. He was awarded half of the 2021 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences "for his empirical contributio ...
as its expert witnesses.
Arcidiacono and Kahlenberg also served as expert witnesses for SFFA in the ''Students for Fair Admissions v. UNC'' lawsuit, with the defendants hiring
Caroline Hoxby and
Bridget Terry Long.
That lawsuit has yet to receive a trial date.
Amicus briefs
On June 15, 2018, many documents surrounding the Harvard litigation (including the expert reports of Arcidiacono and Card) were publicly unsealed.
About six weeks later, a group of economists filed an amicus brief in support of Arcidiacono's findings in his expert witness report.
The economists involved were
Michael Keane, Hanming Fang,
Yingyao Hu,
Glenn Loury
Glenn Cartman Loury (born September 3, 1948) is an American economist, academic, and author. He is the Merton P. Stoltz Professor of the Social Sciences and Professor of Economics at Brown University, where he has taught since 2005. At the age of ...
, and
Matthew Shum.
The brief argued that Arcidiacono's findings were correct and that Card's analysis was wrong for three reasons:
# Harvard's personal rating scores are biased against Asian-Americans, and thus should not be included in the admissions model
# Interactions between race and disadvantaged status should be included in the admissions model
# Applicants in special recruiting categories (such as recruited athletes or
legacies
In law, a legacy is something held and transferred to someone as their inheritance, as by will and testament. Personal effects, family property, marriage property or collective property gained by will of real property.
Legacy or legacies may refer ...
) should be excluded from the admissions model because they are not similarly situated to other applicants
One month following, another group of economists filed an amicus brief in support of Card's analysis, claiming that the points made in the original brief were either mistaken or not germane to the question of racial discrimination.
The brief also argued that Card's decision to not pool applicants across admissions cycles was correct. This group of economists consisted of
Susan Dynarski,
Harry J. Holzer,
Hilary Hoynes
Hilary Hoynes is an economist and Haas Distinguished Chair in Economic Disparities at the Richard and Rhoda Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley. She studies the impact of tax and transfer programs on ...
,
Guido Imbens
Guido Wilhelmus Imbens (born 3 September 1963) is a Dutch-American economist whose research concerns econometrics and statistics. He holds the Applied Econometrics Professorship in Economics at the Stanford Graduate School of Business at Sta ...
,
Alan B. Krueger,
Helen F. Ladd, David S. Lee, Trevon D. Logan,
Alexandre Mas
Alexandre Mas (born c. 1978) is William S. Tod Professor of Economics and Public Affairs at Princeton University, Director of the Industrial Relations Section at Princeton University, and Director of the Labor Studies program of the National Burea ...
, Michael McPherson,
Jesse Rothstein,
Cecilia Rouse,
Robert M. Solow
Robert Merton Solow, GCIH (; born August 23, 1924) is an American economist whose work on the theory of economic growth culminated in the exogenous growth model named after him. He is currently Emeritus Institute Professor of Economics at the Ma ...
, Lowell J. Taylor, Sarah Turner, and Douglas Webber.
An amended brief was filed shortly thereafter which added
George Akerlof
George Arthur Akerlof (born June 17, 1940) is an American economist and a university professor at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University and Koshland Professor of Economics Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. ...
and
Janet Yellen
Janet Louise Yellen (born August 13, 1946) is an American economist serving as the 78th United States secretary of the treasury since January 26, 2021. She previously served as the 15th chair of the Federal Reserve from 2014 to 2018. Yellen is ...
to the list.
Personal life
Arcidiacono is a devout
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
, husband, and father of five children. He has publicly discussed issues of being a Christian in academia.
Selected publications
Affirmative action in higher education
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Estimation of dynamic discrete choice models
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College major choice
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References
External links
Peter Arcidiacono personal webpage*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arcidiacono, Peter
Living people
1970 births
Econometricians
Fellows of the Econometric Society
University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni
Duke University faculty
21st-century American economists