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Dr. George Will Davis

Dr. George Will  Davis

Title

  • Assistant Professor

Contact Information

gwd53@msstate.edu
Office: 662-325-0128
Lloyd-Ricks-Watson Bldg, Rm 355

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

Publications

Year Publications
2022

Meadowcroft, D., Davis, G. 2022. Understanding the Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Substance Use Disorder Treatment Facility Operations and Patient Success: Evidence from Mississippi. Substance Abuse: Research and Treatment

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2021

Davis, G., Gordan, A., Tchernis, R. 2021. Measuring the Spatial Distribution of Health Rankings in the United States. Health Economics 30(11):2921-2936.

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2021

Sung, J., Qiu, Q., Davis, G., Tchernis, R. 2021. Design and Application of an Area-Level Suicide Risk Index with Spatial Correlation. Social Indicators Research 161:77-104.

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2018

Qiu, Q., Sung, J., Davis, G., Tchernis, R. 2018. Using Spatial Factor Analysis to Measure Human Development. Journal of Development Economics 132:130-149.

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Extension Publications

Year Publications

Graduate Students

  • Allyson Bise
  • John Mullins
  • Mphatso Chinsinga

Awards & Honors

  • Research Fellow
    Social Science Research Fellow

Society Memberships

  • Agricultural and Applied Economics Association
  • American Economic Association
  • American Society for Health Economics
  • Southern Agricultural Economics Association
  • Southern Economic Association
  • The American Society of Health Economists