Elizabeth Davis

316B Ruttan Hall

Department of Applied Economics

1994 Buford Ave.

St. Paul,, MN 55108

edavis@umn.edu

+1 612 625 3772

Subject Areas

Economics of the Public Sector

Labor Economics

Poverty and Welfare

Education

Ph.D., Economics, University of Michigan
M.A, Economics, University of Michigan
B.A., Economics and Environmental Studies, Bowdoin College

Areas of Interest

Labor economics, child care and early education, public policy, poverty and welfare reform, and rural economics.

Professor and Major Coordinator for the Applied Economics major

Teaching

APEC 3001: Applied Microeconomics: Consumers, Producers and Markets, syllabus (PDF)
APEC 5032: Economic Data Anlysis for Managerial and Policy Decisions, syllabus (PDF)
APEC 5511: Labor Economics, syllabus (PDF)
APEC 8502: Labor Economics II, syllabus (PDF)
APEC 8902 Graduate Seminar: Ph.D. Program, syllabus (PDF)

Research

My research program focuses primarily on economics and public policy related to low-income families, child care and early education, and low-wage and rural labor market issues in the U.S. My research has examined child care costs, the dynamics of participation in the child care subsidy program, why parents stop using child care subsidies, disparities in access to high quality child care, and the connection between parents’ employment and child care choices. Past research projects have included studies of the impact of local competition on wages and job turnover in the retail food industry and the relationship between local labor market conditions and employment outcomes for disadvantaged workers.

Awards

Distinguished Teaching Award (non-tenured faculty), College of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences, May 2005.
Distinguished Teaching Award: Graduate Education, College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences, 2016.

Select Publications

Elizabeth E. Davis, Won F. Lee, Aaron Sojourner. 2019. “Family-Centered Measures of Access to Early Care and Education” Early Childhood Research Quarterly 47: 472-486.

Caroline Carlin, Elizabeth E. Davis, Caroline Krafft and Kathryn Tout. 2019. Parental preferences and child care choices of low-income families: A Bayesian analysis. Children and Youth Services Review 99: 172-185.

Caroline Krafft, Elizabeth E. Davis and Kathryn Tout. 2017. Child Care Subsidies and the Stability and Quality of Child Care Arrangements. Early Childhood Research Quarterly 39 (2017): 14-34.

Elizabeth E. Davis, Caroline Krafft, and Nicole D. Forry. 2017. The Role of Policy and Practice in Short Spells of Child Care Subsidy Participation. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 27 (1): 1-19.

Caroline Krafft, Elizabeth E. Davis and Kathryn Tout. 2015. The Problem of Measurement Error in Self-Reported Receipt of Child Care Subsidies: Evidence from Two States. Social Service Review 89 (4).

Roberta Weber, Deana Grobe and Elizabeth E. Davis. 2014 “Does policy matter? The effect of increasing generosity of child care subsidy policy on program outcomes.” Children and Youth Services Review 44: 135-144.

Elizabeth E. Davis, Caroline S. Carlin, Caroline Krafft and Kathryn Tout. 2014. “Time for a Change? Predictors of Child Care Changes by Low-Income Families.” Journal of Children and Poverty 20(1):21-46

Nicole Forry, Elizabeth E. Davis, and Kate Welti. 2013. “Ready or Not: An Examination of the Associations between Participation in Subsidized Child Care Arrangements, Pre-Kindergarten, and Children's Readiness for School upon Kindergarten Entry.” Early Childhood Research Quarterly. 28 (3):634-644.

Matthew Freedman, Fredrik Andersson, Elizabeth Davis, Julia Lane, Brian McCall, and L. Kristin Sandusky. 2012. "Decomposing the Sources of Earnings Inequality: Assessing the Role of Reallocation" Industrial Relations 51 (4): 779-810.

Deana Grobe, Roberta B. Weber and Elizabeth E. Davis. 2008. Why Do They Leave? Child Care Subsidy Use in Oregon, Journal of Family and Economic Issues v.29 (1, March): 110-127

Elizabeth Davis, Matthew Freedman, Julia Lane, Brian McCall, Nicole Nistoriak and Tim Park. 2009. “Product Market Competition and Human Resource Practices: An Analysis of the Retail Food Sector.” Industrial Relations 48 (2, April): 350-371.