Peter S. Arcidiacono was born in Oregon in 1971. He graduated from Tigard High School in 1990, completed a B.S. in Economics in 1993 at Willamette University, and received his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1999 under the supervision of John Kennan. Arcidiacono has spent his entire academic career at Duke University.
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. Harvard and Students for Fair Admissions v. UNC lawsuits.
Arcidiacono's work on college major 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.
Professional service
Arcidiacono has served in several editorial positions since 2007:
Co-Editor, Quantitative Economics,
Foreign Editor, Review of Economic Studies
Associate Editor, Journal of Applied Econometrics,
On June 15, 2018, many documents surrounding the Harvard litigation 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, 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 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, Guido Imbens, Alan B. Krueger, Helen F. Ladd, David S. Lee, Trevon D. Logan, Alexandre Mas, Michael McPherson, Jesse Rothstein, Cecilia Rouse, Robert M. Solow, Lowell J. Taylor, Sarah Turner, and Douglas Webber. An amended brief was filed shortly thereafter which added George Akerlof and Janet Yellen to the list.
Controversy
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.
Personal life
Arcidiacono is a devout Catholic, husband, and father of five children. He has publicly discussed issues of being a Christian in academia.
