Doleac earned her Ph.D. in Economics from Stanford University, and holds a B.A. in Mathematics and Economics (with highest honors) from Williams College. Between 2003 and 2006, she worked as a research assistant at the Brookings Institution and the Congressional Budget Office.

She is an applied microeconomist with a particular interest in law and economics, including how the increasingly-widespread use of DNA databases affects criminal behavior.  She has found that DNA databases lead to extremely cost-effective reductions in crime, a result with important public policy implications. 

In other work, she conducted a year-long field experiment to test the effect of a seller's race in online markets, showing that black sellers receive fewer purchase offers and are less trusted than white sellers. Her study of racial discrimination has received a great deal of media attention.