Featured Researcher: Rosalie Liccardo Pacula

Rosalie Liccardo Pacula is a Faculty Research Fellow in the NBER's Programs on Health Economics and Children and an economist at RAND, working in the Health Program and Drug Policy Research Center. Pacula received her B.S. in economics and political science from Santa Clara University and her M.A. and Ph.D. in economics from Duke University. She was an assistant professor at the University of San Diego for two years before moving to the University of Illinois, Chicago, and then to RAND.

Pacula's research to date has largely focused on evaluating the effectiveness of state and local public policies at diminishing substance use and abuse among youth, and the social costs of such abuses. She has also done significant work in evaluating mental health policies and their impact on health care utilization. Her previous and ongoing research areas include: analyses of the impact of marijuana policies on youth marijuana use; the social cost of marijuana use; the determination of price in illicit drug markets; the relationship between demands for intoxicating substances; and the cost-benefit of school-based drug prevention programs. She has done in-depth policy analyses of state-level parity legislation, medical marijuana laws, and decriminalization policy in the United States.

Pacula lives in San Diego, CA, with her husband, Joe, and two children, Gabriella (5) and Brian (3). She is an avid runner, but also enjoys hiking, boating, skiing and various other outdoor activities with family. Right now, Pacula's main hobby is raising her two young children. She works part-time so she can spend more time with them, volunteering regularly in their classrooms and participating in their other activities.