Rate My Professor George Davis

George Davis holds joint appointments as Professor in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics and the Department of Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise at Virginia Tech, where he has served since August 2007. He currently serves as Interim Department Head of Agricultural and Applied Economics, a position he assumed in August 2024. Prior to joining Virginia Tech, Davis was on the faculty at Texas A&M University in the Department of Agricultural Economics from December 1995 to August 2007, progressing from assistant to full professor. His academic background includes a Ph.D. in Economics from North Carolina State University (1991), an M.S. in Agricultural Economics from Clemson University (1986), and a B.S. in Agricultural Economics from Clemson University (1983). Davis's research centers on food demand, health outcomes, econometrics, and methodology, with a primary emphasis on how nutrition policies and time allocation influence nutrient intake and diet quality. He investigates measures of food poverty, the adequacy of SNAP benefits, and socioeconomic differences in nutrition targets. His expertise encompasses agricultural economics, agricultural trade and policy analysis, applied econometrics, food and health economics, and labor economics.

Davis has authored the book Food and Nutrition Economics: Fundamentals for Health Sciences (Oxford University Press, 2016), which received the 2017 Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA) Quality of Communication Award. Notable publications include 'Viewpoint: An Assessment of Recent SNAP Benefit Increases Allowing for Money and Time Variability' in Food Policy (2022, with Wen You and Jinyang Yang); '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' in The Journal of Nutrition (2021); 'The Many Ways COVID-19 Affects Households: Consumption, Time, and Health Outcomes' in Review of Economics of the Household (2021); and 'Estimating Dual Headed Time in Food Production with Implications for SNAP Benefit Adequacy' in The Review of Economics of the Household (2019, with Wen You), which won the 2019 AAEA Best Paper Award in Food Safety and Nutrition. Additional awards include the 2018 AAEA Best Paper Honorable Mention, 2015 Western Agricultural Economics Association Article of the Year Award, 2014 College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Excellence in Applied Research Award (shared with Wen You), 2010 AAEA Best Paper Award in Food Safety and Nutrition, Virginia Tech Scholar of the Week (2011), and Outstanding Alumnus from North Carolina State University Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics (2001). He has served on the Council on Food, Agricultural, and Resource Economics Blue Ribbon Panel on Consumer Concerns about Food, Health, and Safety (2011–2013) and teaches courses such as Food and Health Microeconomics (AAEC 6214) and Food, Nutrition, and Health Economics (AAEC 4814).