Dr. George Will Davis

Overview

Biography

Will Davis grew up in Birmingham Alabama where he attended the University of Alabama at Birmingham for undergrad. He earned his master's degree and Ph.D. in Economics from Georgia State University. Will joined the Department of Agricultural Economics at Mississippi State University in August of 2020. Will is a health economist with extensive experience evaluating the effects of government policies like universal free school meals on the health outcomes of individuals and communities. He has also worked on more methodologically focused topics such as how to measure latent traits like food insecurity, location-specific health, and country-level human development using Bayesian statistical methods. Will's current projects include work with Head Start employees and parents in coastal Mississippi and work with the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. In the past, Will has conducted research with groups such as the United States Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service and the Metro Atlanta Policy Lab for Education at the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies.

Education

• Georgia State University, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Economics
• Georgia State University, Master of Arts (M.A.) , Economics
• University of Alabama at Birmingham, Bachelor of Science (B.S.) , Economics

Research/Extension Interests

Government nutrition assistance programs
School meals
Adult and child health
Health disparities
Rural development
Area-level health
American Indian health
Latent factor measurement

Teaching Interests

Agricultural economics
Microeconomics
Health economics
Econometrics
Quantitative methods

Websites

• Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station
• Will Davis Economics