Nancy Nicosia

Senior Economist; Affiliate Faculty, Pardee RAND Graduate School

Boston Office

Education

Ph.D. in economics, University of California, Berkeley; B.A. in economics, Wellesley College

One Page Bio

Media Resources

This researcher is available for interviews.

To arrange an interview, contact the RAND Office of Media Relations at (310) 451-6913, or email media@rand.org.

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Overview

Nancy Nicosia is a senior economist at the RAND Corporation. Her research focuses on two substantive research areas. The first is understanding the role of place effects in determining health outcomes among children and adults, with a special focus on obesity and its consequences. Her current work in this area includes an NIH-funded study, which utilizes the natural experiment of military assignments to understand the causal role of place on obesity and cardiometabolic outcomes. Her second research focus is on understanding the intersection between substance use, criminal justice, and health consequences. Her current work in this area includes policy evaluations of the 24/7 Sobriety program and of South Dakota’s Public Safety Improvement Act in order to understand their effects on criminal justice involvement, health, and health disparities. She is the recipient of grants from various agencies and private foundations including the National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institute on Minority Health Disparities, and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Her work has been published in leading economics and public health journals including the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA Pediatrics, and American Economic Review among others. Nicosia received her Ph.D. in economics from the University of California, Berkeley.

Research Focus

Recent Projects

Estimating the Effect of 24/7 Sobriety on Morbidity and Mortality in North Dakota
Environments, Preferences and Childhood Obesity: Evidence From a Natural Experiment
Evaluating South Dakota’s 24/7 Sobriety Program
Contextual Effects on Cardiometabolic Health: Evidence from a Natural Experiment
Environment's Impact on Children's Diet, Activity and Obesity: A Natural Experiment

Selected Publications

Smart, Rosanna, Terry L. Schell, Andrew R. Morral, and Nancy Nicosia, "Geographic disparities in rising rates of firearm-related homicide.," New England Journal of Medicine, 2022

Datar, Ashlesha, Nancy Nicosia, and Anya Samek., "Heterogeneity in place effects on health: The case of time preferences and adolescent obesity," Economics & Human Biology, 2023

Datar, Ashlesha, Amy Mahler, and Nancy Nicosia, "Association of exposure to communities with high obesity with body type norms and obesity risk among teenagers," JAMA Network Open, 2020

Datar, Ashlesha and Nancy Nicosia, "Assessing social contagion in body mass index, overweight, and obesity using a natural experiment," JAMA Pediatrics, 2018

Midgette, Greg, Beau Kilmer, Nancy Nicosia and Paul Heaton, "A natural experiment to test the effect of sanction certainty and celerity on substance-impaired driving: North Dakota’s 24/7 Sobriety program," Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 2020

Kilmer, Beau, Nancy Nicosia, Paul Heaton and Gregory Midgette, "Efficacy of Frequent Monitoring with Swift, Certain, and Modest Sanctions for Violations: Insights from South Dakota’s 24/7 Sobriety Project," American Journal of Public Health

Dobkin, Carlos, Nancy Nicosia, and Matthew Weinberg., "Are supply-side drug control efforts effective? Evaluating OTC regulations targeting methamphetamine precursors.," Journal of Public Economics, 2014

Dobkin, Carlos and Nancy Nicosia, "The War on Drugs: Methamphetamine, Public Health and Crime," American Economic Review

Languages

Italian

Commentary

Alcohol

Everyone Over 21 Has a 'License to Drink.' When Should It Get Suspended?
Excessive drinking creates massive economic costs because of its effects on workplace productivity, health care expenditures, and crime. This raises the question: Should some people be required to stop drinking?
Mar 11, 2023
USA Today

Publications

Journal Article
Association of an Alcohol Abstinence Program With Mortality in Individuals Arrested for Driving While Alcohol Impaired
Individual-level analysis finds that among those arrested for driving under the influence, participation in 24/7 Sobriety reduces risk of death during study period—on the order of 50 percent.
Mar 2, 2023
Journal Article
Geographic Disparities in Rising Rates of Firearm-Related Homicide
Our study shows that the rise since 2014 in firearms homicides is concentrated in south-central and midwestern states, and in American Indian and Alaskan Natives, and Black communities, thereby exacerbating existing disparities.
Jul 19, 2022
Journal Article
A Natural Experiment to Test the Effect of Sanction Certainty and Celerity on Substance-Impaired Driving: North Dakota's 24/7 Sobriety Program
Over half of participants ordered to abstain from substance use complete 24/7 Sobriety without a detected substance use event. At the county level, the program is associated with a 9% reduction in substance-impaired driving arrests.
May 7, 2020
Journal Article
School Food and Beverage Availability and Children's Diet, Purchasing, and Obesity: Evidence From a Natural Experiment
We examined whether the number of competitive food and beverage items available for purchase in school, overall and by type (unhealthy, healthy, neutral), was associated with in-school food purchases, dietary behaviors, and body mass index outcomes.
2020
Journal Article
Neighborhood Environments and Physical Activity: A Longitudinal Study of Adolescents in a Natural Experiment
Adolescence is a time when the decline in physical activity and increase in obesity is dramatic, highlighting the need to identify opportunities to address obesogenic behaviors for this age group.
Apr 18, 2018
Report
The Science of Gun Policy: A Critical Synthesis of Research Evidence on the Effects of Gun Policies in the United States
This report synthesizes the available scientific evidence on the effects of various firearm policies on firearm deaths, violent crime, the gun industry, participation in hunting and sport shooting, and other outcomes.
Mar 2, 2018
Journal Article
Association of Exposure to Communities with Higher Ratios of Obesity with Increased Body Mass Index and Risk of Overweight and Obesity Among Parents and Children
Military families assigned to bases in counties with high obesity rates are more likely to be overweight than those in counties with low obesity rates, suggesting that social contagion may play a role in obesity.
Jan 25, 2018
Journal Article
The Role of School Environments in Explaining Racial-Ethnic Disparities in Body Mass Index Among U.S. Adolescents
School characteristics in the fifth and eighth grades showed little additional influence on the racial and ethnic disparities in body mass index observed at school entry in a longitudinal study of elementary and middle school students.
Jun 24, 2016
Journal Article
Neighborhood and Home Food Environment and Children's Diet and Obesity: Evidence from Military Personnel's Installation Assignment
Focusing only on the availability of particular food outlets in a neighborhood may ignore other important factors, including how families decide what food to buy and where to buy it, availability of healthy foods at home, and parenting practices.
Apr 29, 2016
Journal Article
Can a Criminal Justice Alcohol Abstention Programme with Swift, Certain, and Modest Sanctions (24/7 Sobriety) Reduce Population Mortality? A Retrospective Observational Study
In this study we examine whether the 24/7 Sobriety programme in South Dakota, USA—the largest such programme to date—is associated with reductions in mortality.
Feb 18, 2016
Journal Article
The Effect of State Competitive Food and Beverage Regulations on Childhood Overweight and Obesity
Students in states that regulate “competitive” foods and beverages—those offered or sold outside the school lunch program--were less likely to be overweight or obese than students in states with no such policies.
2016
Journal Article
Parental Deployment, Adolescent Academic and Social-Behavioral Maladjustment, and Parental Psychological Well-Being in Military Families
Long deployments can increase the risk for negative adolescent and parental outcomes, relative to short or no deployment; military fathers and adolescent boys may be more strongly affected than military mothers and adolescent girls.
2016
Journal Article
Decomposing Racial Disparities in Prison and Drug Treatment Commitments for Criminal Offenders in California
We assess whether black-white disparities in commitments to prison or diversions to treatment for drug offenders in California can be explained by differences in the characteristics of criminal cases and whether case characteristics are weighed differently by race.
2014
Journal Article
Maternal Work and Children's Diet, Activity, and Obesity
Mothers' work hours are likely to affect their time allocation towards activities related to children's diet, activity and well-being.
2014
Journal Article
Disparities in Criminal Court Referrals to Drug Treatment and Prison for Minority Men
Disparities in prison and diversion to drug treatment among drug-involved offenders affect hundreds of thousands of citizens and might reinforce imbalances in criminal justice and health outcomes.
Jun 1, 2013
Journal Article
Parent Perceptions of Neighborhood Safety and Children's Physical Activity, Sedentary Behavior, and Obesity: Evidence from a National Longitudinal Study
We examined the relationship between parent-perceived neighborhood safety and children's physical activity, sedentary behavior, body mass, and obesity status on a cohort of US kindergartners from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study.
May 1, 2013
Journal Article
Efficacy of Frequent Monitoring with Swift, Certain, and Modest Sanctions for Violations: Insights from South Dakota 24/7 Sobriety Project
In community supervision settings, frequent alcohol testing with swift, certain, and modest sanctions for violations can reduce problem drinking and improve public health outcomes.
2013
Research Brief
An Innovative Way to Curb Problem Drinking: South Dakota's 24/7 Sobriety Project
South Dakota's 24/7 Sobriety Project, in which individuals with alcohol-involved offenses submit to breathalyzer tests twice per day or wear an alcohol monitoring bracelet at all times, reduced repeat DUI arrests at the county level by 12 percent.
Dec 12, 2012
Journal Article
Junk Foods in Schools and Childhood Obesity
The availabiltiy of junk food does not significantly increase BMI or obesity among a group of fifth-graders even though they are likely to buy junk food.
Apr 1, 2012
Research Brief
What Are the Public Health Implications of Prisoner Reentry in California?
Examines the health care needs of released California prisoners, communities most affected by reentry, safety net capacity, and provider experiences with ex-prisoners, given California's Public Safety Realignment Plan and federal health care reform.
Dec 7, 2011
Report
Understanding the Public Health Implications of Prisoner Reentry in California: State-of-the-State Report
Examines the health care needs of newly released California prisoners, the communities most affected by reentry, the capacity of their safety nets, and the experiences of released prisoners, service providers, and families of prisoners.
Nov 16, 2011
Report
Assessing the Performance of Military Treatment Facilities
Discusses the potential usefulness and limitations of using utilization and cost metrics to evaluate the performance of U.S. Department of Defense military treatment facilities.
Sep 21, 2011
Research Brief
Preventing Obesity and Its Consequences: Highlights of RAND Health Research
Summarizes key RAND studies on the causes of obesity, its economic and health consequences, and potential strategies for prevention, including work on health care costs, junk food, food deserts, school meals, and proximity of parks.
Aug 3, 2011
Report
The Economics of Air Force Medical Service Readiness
To transition rapidly to wartime service, Air Force Medical Service critical-care providers need suitable peacetime training opportunities, and this work must be properly attributed to AFMS so that it receives proper credit in budget distributions.
Jan 12, 2011
Journal Article
What Economics Can Contribute to the Addiction Sciences
Economics offers tools and topical expertise that complement other disciplines associated with the addiction sciences. Its value goes far beyond the ability to monetize nonmonetary outcomes or to calculate a cost-benefit ratio.
2010
Research Brief
Assessing Parolees' Health Care Needs and Potential Access to Health Care Services in California
California parolees' health care, mental health care, and drug- and alcohol-treatment needs, as well as where parolees go when they return to counties, place significant demands on counties' safety-net resources and on their ability meet those needs.
Jun 17, 2009
Report
Understanding the Public Health Implications of Prisoner Reentry in California: Phase I Report
A variety of approaches to assessing the health care needs and geographic distribution of California parolees can help policymakers understand local communities' capacity to meet the needs of this population.
May 29, 2009
Research Brief
The Costs of Methamphetamine Use: A National Estimate
The economic cost of methamphetamine use reached more than an estimated $23 billion in 2005, mostly from the intangible burden that addiction places on dependent users and their premature mortality and from crime and criminal justice costs.
Apr 8, 2009
Draft
Food Prices and Transitions in School Meal Participation During Elementary School
Examines participation patterns in the School Breakfast Program and National School Lunch Program.
Apr 7, 2009
Draft
The Impact of Maternal Labor Supply on Children's School Meal Participation
Examines how maternal labor supply decisions influence children's participation in school meal programs.
Apr 7, 2009
Draft
Junk Foods in School and Childhood Obesity: Much Ado About Nothing?
Estimates the causal effect of competitive food availability on children's body mass index and other food- and school-related outcomes using an instrumental variables approach on a national sample of children.
Apr 1, 2009
Report
The Economic Cost of Methamphetamine Use in the United States, 2005
The first national estimate of the economic cost of methamphetamine considers burdens of addiction, early death, drug treatment, lost productivity, crime and criminal justice, health care, production and environmental hazards, and child endangerment.
Jan 27, 2009
Journal Article
The Medicare Hospice Payment System: A Consideration of Potential Refinements
The purpose of this article is to examine variation in resource utilization across and within patient stays in the context of Medicare's per diem payment system for hospice.
2009
Journal Article
The War on Drugs: Methamphetamine, Public Health, and Crime
In mid-1995, a government effort to reduce the supply of methamphetamine precursors successfully disrupted the methamphetamine market and interrupted a trajectory of increasing usage.
2009
Research Brief
Measuring the Use of Women-Owned Small Businesses in Federal Contracting
This research brief summarizes a RAND assessment of disparity ratios for women-owned small businesses to determine whether those businesses receive federal contracts in proportion to their representation in given industries.
Jun 5, 2007
Report
The Utilization of Women-Owned Small Businesses in Federal Contracting
Computations of disparity ratios measuring the underrepresentation of women-owned small businesses in federal contracting, showing that there is significant variation depending on the methodology used and on data limitations.
Apr 17, 2007
Draft
Comparing For-Profit and Not-for-Profit Health Care Providers: A Review of the Literature
This report reviews issues related to profit status and provider costs and discusses the implications of findings in the literature for work on the relationship between the two, particularly in the post–acute care setting.
Mar 12, 2007
Report
Implementing Purchasing and Supply Chain Management: Best Practices in Market Research
Provides background about market research and a summary of "how-to" guidance for U.S. Air Force commodity teams tasked with conducting market research in order to improve Air Force procurement by emulating commercial best practices.
Dec 12, 2006
Research Brief
Market Research Can Help the Air Force Maintain a High-Quality Supply Base
This research brief summarizes a "how-to" guide for U.S. Air Force commodity teams tasked with conducting market research in order to improve Air Force procurement by emulating commercial best practices.
Dec 6, 2006
Draft
The Medicare Hospice Payment System: A Preliminary Consideration of Potential Refinements
Uses visit data from a large national chain of hospice providers to reevaulate Medicare's per diem payment system for hospice care.
Jun 21, 2006
Research Brief
How Well is the Air Force Improving Services Acquisition? New Metrics Can Help
RAND Project Air Force developed a portfolio of metrics to help the Air Force Program Executive Officer for Combat and Mission Support effectively manage and oversee Air Force service acquisition activities.
Nov 25, 2005
Report
Enhancing Public Health Preparedness: Exercises, Exemplary Practices, and Lessons Learned: Assessing the Adequacy of Extant Exercises for Addressing Local and State Readiness for Public Health Emergencies
Develops and applies criteria for assessing the design of emergency response exercises used at the local, state, regional, national, or international level.
May 24, 2005
Report
Air Force Service Procurement: Approaches for Measurement and Management
To assist the Air Force in the process of changing the way it purchases services, this report reviews related commercial sector practices and suggests metrics to track progress and refine services procurement efforts over time.
Mar 1, 2005
Report
Improving Contracting at the City of Los Angeles Airports, Port, and Department of Water and Power
Presents an analysis of a 90-day study to find ways to make the purchasing, contracting, and leasing activities of the Los Angeles World Airports, the Port of Los Angeles, and the Department of Water and Power more transparent and efficient
Jan 14, 2005