George Davis, PhD
Affiliate Professor
- Focus area(s): Food demand, health outcomes, econometrics, and methodology
304 Hutcheson
Education
Ph.D. Economics, North Carolina State University, 1991
M.S. Agricultural Economics, Clemson University, 1986
B.S. Agricultural Economics, Clemson University, 1983
Experience
August 2007 – present: Professor, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics and Department of Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA
December 1995 – August 2007: Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural Economics, Texas A&M University
Selected Major Awards
- Best Paper Award in Food Safety and Nutrition for the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association 2019, for article with Wen You entitled, “Estimating Dual Headed Time in Food Production with Implications for SNAP Benefit Adequacy.” The Review of Economics of the Household. Vol. 17. No.1 (2019):24-266.
- Best Paper Award in Food Safety and Nutrition for the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association 2018, Honorable Mention, for article with Yanliang Yang and Wen You entitled, “Measuring Food Expenditure Poverty in SNAP Populations: Some Extensions with An Application to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.” Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy. Vol. 41. No.1 (2018):133-152.
- Quality of Communication Award from Agricultural and Applied Economics Association in 2017 for the book Food and Nutrition Economics: Fundamentals for Health Sciences
- Article of the Year Award from Western Agricultural Economics Association in 2015 for article with Senarath Dharmasena and Oral Capps, Jr. “Partial and General Equilibrium Effects of a Sugar Sweetened Beverage Tax.” Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics. Vol. 39. No. 2. (Aug. 2014): 157-173.
- College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. 2014 Excellence in Applied Research Award. Shared with Wen You.
- Council on Food, Agricultural, and Resource Economics Blue Ribbon Panel in Consumer Concerns about Food, Health, and Safety. 2011 – 2013.
- Best Paper Award in Food Safety and Nutrition for the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association 2010 for article with Wen You entitled, “Household Food Expenditures, Parental Time Allocation, and Childhood Obesity: An Integrated Two-Stage Collective Model with an Empirical Application and Test.”
- Scholar of the Week. Virginia Tech. February 7 – 14, 2011
- Co–Advisor with Wen You for 2009 William Preston Society Master’s Thesis Gold Watch Award. Awarded to Ge Zhang by Virginia Tech for her thesis “Incorporating Food-Away- From Home into Thrifty Food Plan.” 2009.
- Major Advisor for 2006 American Agricultural Economics Association Outstanding Dissertation Award. Awarded to Wen You for her dissertation “Parental Time and Children’s Obesity Measures: A Theoretical and Empirical Investigation.”
- Outstanding Alumnus North Carolina State University, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics. 2001.
- Excellence in Teaching at the Graduate Level Award. Department of Agricultural Economics. Texas A&M University. 1996–97.
- Outstanding Faculty Member Under Ten Years Award. Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Tennessee. 1995.
Program Focus
I am currently working on using more informative measures of ‘food poverty’ in evaluating how well individuals are reaching nutrition targets, to what extent recent revisions in the SNAP program have helped, and to what extent there are differences across socioeconomic and demographic groups. I also continue to work on the many implications of time constraints on nutrient intake and diet quality.
Selected Recent Publications
- You, Wen, George C. Davis, and Jinyang Yang. “Viewpoint: An Assessment of Recent SNAP Benefit Increases Allowing for Money and Time Variability.” Food Policy. Vol. 106. 2022. 102175.
- Davis, George C. “The American Rescue Plan Act Is a Great Start but More Increases in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Benefits Are Likely Needed Due to Implicit Hidden Reductions” The Journal of Nutrition, Volume 151, Issue 8, August 2021, Pages 2099–2104
- Davis, George C. “The Many Ways COVID-19 Affects Households: Consumption, Time, and Health Outcomes.” Review of Economics of the Household 19, no. 2 (2021): 281-289.
- Houghtaling, B., Serrano, E., Chen, S., Kraak, V.I., Harden, S.M., Davis, G.C. and Misyak, S., 2021. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)-Authorized Retailers’ Perceived Costs to Use Behavioral Economic Strategies to Encourage Healthy Product Sales. Ecology of Food and Nutrition, 60(2), pp.212-224.
- Davis, George C. “Convenient Economics: The Incorporation and Implications of Convenience in Market Equilibrium Analysis.” Applied Economics Teaching Resources. 2020. Vol. 2. No. 2226. 1209.
- Davis, George C., You W., and Yang, Y. “Are SNAP Benefits Adequate? A Geographical and Food Expenditure Decomposition.” Food Policy. Available online June 23, 2020.
- O’Keefe, K*, Farris A, Serrano E, Davis GC, Frisard M. “School lunches are less expensive than home-packed lunches: a comparative cost study that includes time.” J Child Nutrition & Management. Vol. 44. No. 1: 1-13.
- Houghtaling B*, Serrano E, Kraak VI, Harden SM, Davis GC, Misyak S. Availability of Voluntary Commitements of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Authorized Retailers to Use Marketing-Mix and Choice-Architecture Strategies to Encourage Healthy Diet.” Public Health Nutrition. Vol. 23. No.10: 1745-1753.
- Shi, R.*, Meacham S, Davis GC, You W, Sun Y, and Goessl. “Factors Influencing High Respiratory Mortality in Coal mining Counties: A Repeated Cross-Sectional Analysis.” BMC Public Health. Vol. 19. No. 1. Article number. 1484. 2019.
- Houghtaling B*, Serrano E, Kraak VI, Harden SM, Davis GC, Misyak S. “A Systematic Review of Factors that Influence Food Store Owner and Manager Decision Making and ability/Willingness to Use Choice Architecture and Marketing Mix Strategies to Encourage Healthy Consumer Purchases in the United States, 2005-2017.” Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. Vol. 16. No. 1 (2019).