Robert B. Archibald

Robert B. Archibald is Chancellor Professor of Economics Emeritus at the College of William and Mary. He was born in Mt. Holly, New Jersey. At age two he tagged along with his family as they moved to Oklahoma, and at age ten he accompanied them to Arizona. He was graduated from the University of Arizona in 1968. After serving in the Army as an infantryman in Vietnam, he attended graduate school at Purdue University. He finished his doctoral work as a Baker-Weeks Fellow at the Brookings Institution in 1974. Following a two-year stint at the Bureau of Labor Statistics, he took a position in the economics department of the College of William and Mary. At various times at William and Mary he has served as the chair of the economics department, director of the Thomas Jefferson Program in Public Policy, interim dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, president of the Faculty Assembly, and faculty representative on the Board of Visitors, the school’s governing board. Professor Archibald is married and has two adult children and four outstanding grandchildren.

Professor Archibald’s academic research focused on the economics of higher education. His first book, Redesigning the Financial Aid System: Why Colleges and Universities Should Switch Roles with the Federal Government, was published by Johns Hopkins University Press in 2002. He and his colleague David Feldman have engaged in a long and fruitful collaboration. Together they published a number of research papers, policy analyses, and opinion articles on higher education issues. Their 2011 book, Why Does College Cost So Much? published by Oxford University Press was widely read. Bill Gates listed it among the seven best books he read in 2013. Their 2017 book, The Road Ahead for America's Colleges & Universities, again published by Oxford University Press, has also been widely read, but we haven't heard anything from Mr. Gates.

Upon retirement, Professor Archibald started writing novels. He has published seven novels all with Blue Fortune Enterprises. His books are mysteries involving more or less regular people. None of his characters are particularly strong or fast or above average in any way. Mostly they bumble their way through their difficulties. The novels are set in modern-day America with all its confusions and political tension. The first three books: Roundabout Revenge, Guilty Until Proven Innocent, and Crime Might Pay, all involve the same characters, but the other books introduce new people.