Publications

Datar, Ashlesha, Amy Mahler, and Nancy Nicosia. (2020). “Association of Exposure to Communities with High Obesity with Body Type Norms and Obesity Risk Among Teenagers.” In: JAMA Network Open 3.3. url: https: //jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2762787.

Datar, Ashlesha, Nancy Nicosia, Amy Mahler, et al. (2023). “Association of Place With Adolescent Obesity.” In: JAMA Pediatrics. issn: 2168-6203. doi: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2023.1329. url: https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2023.1329.

Stein, Bradley D, Amy C. Mahler, and Rosanna Smart (2025). “Teachers’ Reports of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Medication Changes During Stimulant Shortages: National Survey Results.” In: Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. Volume 0, Issue 0. doi: 10.1016/j.jaac.2025.08.020. url: https://www.jaacap.org/article/S0890-8567(25)01473-X/fulltext.

Working Papers

“The Impact of Working Conditions on Productivity: Evidence from the U.S. Public Defense System” R&R at the Journal of Public Economics

There are significant disparities between case outcomes in the U.S. criminal justice system. To what extent is this due to the working conditions faced by its employees? I study this question in the context of the U.S. public defense system, where public defenders provide legal representation to low-income defendants while juggling notoriously high workloads. Using the universe of public defense case records from two U.S. states and quasi-random variation in workloads due to strict case assignment rules, I find that a one standard deviation increase in the attorney's workload increases the defendant's incarceration sentence length by 6.8\%, as well as the likelihood the defendant is convicted and/or incarcerated. I explore mechanisms using granular attorney time use data, finding that rising workloads prompt public defenders to cut time spent across all tasks, but may completely remove tasks performed independently, such as reviewing evidence and conducting legal research.

Works in Progress

“Neighborhood Effects on Education Expectations and Attainment” with Ashlesha Datar, Nancy Nicosia, and Maria Prados

“Experts and Conflicts of Interest: Evidence from FDA Advisory Committees” with Fanny Camara & Margaret Kyle