New Professor Maurel Examines Education, Labor with Econometrics 17 August 2011 1:50AM
“I’ve always been interested in what drives people, especially college-aged people. How do they make important economic decisions?” explained Arnaud Maurel, a new faculty member in the Department of Economics. “One of the main questions I’m interested in is how people choose their college major.”

As a high school student growing up in Nice, France, Maurel had a sense that his own major would have something to do with mathematics, a subject that he always enjoyed.

“I thought about working in engineering or mathematics,” Maurel said. “But doing economics and econometrics is a very nice way to combine these interests with the social sciences.”

He undertook undergraduate studies in physics and mathematics, and then moved to Paris to pursue graduate work in statistics and economics at the Paris Graduate School of Economics, Statistics and Finance (ENSAE). Arnaud received his Ph.D. from the Paris School of Economics (PSE) and the Center for Research in Economics and Statistics (CREST) in March 2010.

“My main research interests are in the economics of education, labor economics and microeconometrics,” said Maurel. “It turns out determining what drives an important economic decision like enrolling in college or choosing a college major is very difficult to sort out from the data. Disentangling factors such as the importance of expected earnings and individual preferences requires econometrics. I’m focused on developing new econometric techniques and models to provide new insights on these questions.”

After finishing his Ph.D., Maurel got to know Duke as a post-doc where he continued his research and taught two graduate courses in labor economics. While on the job market, he subsequently received an Assistant Professor offer from Duke as well as several other offers but decided that Duke was the best fit for him.

“Duke was unbeatable in many aspects – for one, it is very dynamic and lively,” said Maurel. “And when it comes to my research interests, the overlap I have with other faculty here is unique. I have a few projects going with Peter Arcidiacono, and for example, I also share several research interests with Federico Bugni. I’m in the right place.”

In one project with Arcidiacono and Ph.D. students Esteban Aucejo and Tyler Ransom, Maurel seeks to understand why people drop out from college, despite tuition fees and the seemingly lack of return of investing in an incomplete degree. The researchers are trying to sort out the puzzle of factors that influence the dropout phenomenon.

“I’ve enjoyed teaching and working with the graduate students at Duke,” said Maurel of his experience in the past year. “I like to help people understand things that may seem complicated at first glance.”

Maurel is not only pleased with Duke so far but also with the ever-improving city of Durham. “It reminds me of the South of France but much warmer,” he said with a smile, “I like it even more than expected.”

Learn more about Arnaud Maurel at his profile page.