Ashlesha Datar
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Education
Overview
Biography
Ashlesha Datar is an economist at the RAND Corporation. Her research focuses on the health and educational outcomes of young children and the role of families, schools, and other contextual factors in determining these outcomes. Datar's research on child health has examined how school policies and environments influence childhood obesity, how birth weight affects parental investments in infancy and early childhood, and the effects of health infrastructure availability in developing countries on childhood immunizations. Her research in education addresses two important policy questions—school entry age and class size reduction—and examines their effects on student achievement. Datar is currently studying the factors explaining the emergence of socioeconomic disparities in childhood obesity. She is the recipient of several grants from federal agencies and private foundations, including the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Her research has been published in health, education, and policy journals. Datar received her Ph.D. in policy analysis from the Pardee RAND Graduate School.
Research Focus
Recent Projects
- Effects of food and physical activity environments in schools and neighborhoods on childhood obesity
- Emergence of racial-ethnic disparities in childhood obesity
- Effects of natural disasters on child health in developing countries
- School entry age effects on cognitive and noncognitive skills
Selected Publications
A. Datar and R. Sturm, "Childhood Overweight and Elementary School Outcomes," International Journal of Obesity, 2006
A. Datar, "Does Delaying Kindergarten Entrance Give Children a Head Start?" Economics of Education Review, 25(1), 2006
R. Sturm and A. Datar, "Body Mass Index in Elementary School Children, Metropolitan Area Food Prices and Food Outlet Density," Public Health, 2005
Ashlesha Datar and Roland Sturm, "Childhood Overweight and Parent- and Teacher-Reported Behavior Problems: Evidence from a Prospective Study of Kindergartners," Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 158(8), 2004
Ashlesha Datar and Roland Sturm, "Physical Education in Elementary School and Body Mass Index: Evidence from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study," American Journal of Public Health, 94(9), 2004
Languages
Hindi, MarathiRecent Media Appearances
Interviews: Associated Press; CNN; Consumers Digest; Los Angeles Times; Reuters; Washington Post; WebMD
Economics
Recent Projects
- Effects of junk food in schools on childhood obesity
- Effects of food prices and maternal labor supply on children's school meal participation
- Parental investments in early childhood
- Class size effects
Selected Publications
Datar, A., Kilburn, M.R., and Loughran, D, "Endowments and Parental Investments in Infancy and Early Childhood," Demography, 47(1):145-162, 2010
Ashlesha Datar and Bryce Mason, "Do Smaller Classes," Economics of Education Review, 27:712-723, 2008
Roland Sturm and Ashlesha Datar, "Food Prices and Weight Gain During Elementary School Children: 5-Year Update," Public Health, 122:1140-43, 2008
Loughran, D., Datar, A. and Kilburn, M. Rebecca, "The Interactive Effect of Birth Weight and Common Parental Investment on Child Test Scores," Review of Economics of the Household, 6:223-242, 2008
Roland Sturm and Ashlesha Datar, "Childhood Overweight and Elementary School Outcomes," International Journal of Obesity, 30(9):1449-60, 2006
Ashlesha Datar, "Does Delaying Kindergarten Entrance Give Children a Head Start?" Economics of Education Review, 25:43-62, 2006
Ashlesha Datar, "The Impact of Kindergarten Entrance Age Policies on the Child Care Needs of Families," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 25(1):129-151, 2006
Ashlesha Datar, Neeraj Sood, "The Impact of Postpartum Hospital Stay Legislation on Newborn Length of Stay, Readmission and Mortality in California," Pediatrics, 118(1):63-72, 2006
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