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About David
Frisvold is interested in understanding whether and how public policies targeted towards children influence their health and education outcomes. His research focuses on the potential reduction in childhood obesity from soft drink taxes, Head Start participation, physical education requirements, and the School Breakfast Program. Additionally, Frisvold’s research investigates the influence of school quality on health outcomes. His research also examines the impact on education outcomes of full-day kindergarten and the School Breakfast Program. Frisvold teaches courses on health economics, public finance, and poverty policy.
Contributions
How Head Start Helps to Fight Childhood Obesity
Key Findings Brief,
In the News
Research discussed by "One Reason You May Not See Teens Flipping Burgers or Lifeguarding This Summer," MarketWatch, June 7, 2018.
, in Quoted by Nathanael Johnson in "New Research Shows a Flaw in the Plan to Tax Soda out of Existence," Grist, August 17, 2015.
, in
Opinion: "Physical Education Requirements and Childhood Obesity," David E. Frisvold (with ), Vox, September 26, 2012.
Research discussed by "Unlike Soda Tax, Bloomberg Says Soda Size Ban is His Call," WNYC, May 31, 2012.
, in Quoted by in "College Costs and Selectivity May Influence Health and Behavior Choices," The Chronicle of Higher Education, April 26, 2011.
Publications
"School Quality and the Education-Health Relationship: Evidence from Blacks in Segregated Schools" (with ). Journal of Health Economics 30, no. 6 (2011): 1232-1245.
Finds that the improvements in quality of schools attended by black students in the segregated states during the mid-1900s amplified the beneficial effects of education on self-rated health, smoking, obesity, and mortality.
"Expanding Exposure: Can Increasing the Daily Duration of Head Start Reduce Childhood Obesity?" (with ). Journal of Human Resources 46, no. 2 (2011): 373-402.
Finds that attending a full-day Head Start class substantially decreases the prevalence of childhood obesity throughout the course of one year.
"The Effects of Soft Drink Taxes on Child and Adolescent Consumption and Weight Outcomes" (with ). Journal of Public Economics 94, no. 11 (2010): 967-974.
Finds that increases in soft drink taxes between 1989 and 2006 moderately decreased soft drink consumption among youths, but this reduction was completely offset by increases in consumption of other high-calorie drinks.