Frederick Zimmerman, Ph.D.

Fred W and Pamela K. Wasserman Chair in Health Services Department of Health Services Department of Health Services School of Public Health Box 951772, 41-295D CHS Los Angeles, CA 90095-1772 Phone: (310) 825-1971 fax: (310) 825-3317 E-mail: fredzimmerman@ucla.edu CV (PDF) Dossier (HS faculty access only)

Biographical Information

Frederick J. Zimmerman is an Associate Professor in the Department of Health Services. His research uses the lens of economics to study the ways parents invest in the long-term health of their children. His theoretical research uses stochastic dynamic programming to model how the non-fungibility of health assets can create a soft poverty trap, as families fail to maintain other, more tangible, assets (e.g., land, money) so as to safeguard health. This research has provided a theoretical rationale for an empirical observation that wealthier people are able to use tangible assets more productively than are poor people.

Empirical research conducted by Dr. Zimmerman has put these theoretical observations in a concrete context. This empirical research uses large secondary datasets from the US (PSID, NLSY), South Africa, Burkina Faso, and Bulgaria. This research unpacks the ways that parents invest in their children's mental health, development, and behavioral health in early childhood, and the long-term economic and health implications of these investments. Dr. Zimmerman's research has been published in Jama, the American Journal of Public Health, Pediatrics, Social Science and Medicine, Health Economics, the Journal of Development Economics, and elsewhere.

Professor Zimmerman teaches advanced quantitative methods in the Department's doctoral training program.

Dr. Zimmerman holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Wisconsin. Prior to joining the UCLA faculty he held positions at Stanford University and the University of Washington in Seattle. He has also been a visiting scholar at UC Berkeley. The component of his research that revolves around the effects of early media exposure on child health and development has caught the attention of the popular press, and has been covered by NPR, the BBC, Good Morning America, the Today Show, The New York Times, and many other media outlets.

Selected Publications

Zimmerman FJ, Carter MR. Asset Smoothing, Consumption Smoothing and the Reproduction of Inequality under Risk and Subsistence Constraints. Journal of Development Economics 2003 (August) 71(2): 233-260.

Zimmerman FJ. Cinderella Goes To School: The Effects of Child Fostering on School Enrollment in South Africa. Journal of Human Resources, 38(3) Summer, 2003: 557-590.

Christakis DA, Zimmerman FJ, DiGiuseppe DL, McCarty CA. Early Television Exposure and Subsequent Attentional Problems in Children. Pediatrics 2004 113(4).

Zimmerman FJ, Glew GM, Christakis DA, Katon W. Early Cognitive Stimulation, Television Watching, and Subsequent Bullying Among Grade-School Children. Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine. 2005 159(4):354-388. (April)

Zimmerman FJ and Christakis DA. Children's Television Viewing and Cognitive Outcomes: A Longitudinal Analysis of National Data. Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine 159(7):619-625. July, 2005.

Strong LL, Zimmerman FJ. Occupational Injury And Duration Of Missed Work Among African American, Hispanic, And Non-Hispanic White Workers. American Journal of Public Health 95(7):1226-32. July, 2005.

Zimmerman FJ. Social, Demographic and Economic Determinants of Disparities in Mental Health Specialty Utilization Among Children: Evidence from a National Sample. Health Services Research 40(5): 1514-33. October, 2005

Zimmerman FJ and Katon W. Socioeconomic Status, Depression Disparities, and Financial Hardship: What Lies Behind the Income – Depression Relationship? Health Economics 14(12): 2005.

Zimmerman FJ and Bell JF. Income Inequality and Physical and Mental Health: Testing Associations Consistent with Proposed Causal Pathways. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 60(6) 513-521 (June) 2006.

Zimmerman FJ. Agreeing on More than Chicken Soup: Intra-household Decision-Making and Treatment for Child Psychopathology. Review of Economics of the Household 4(3): 229-252. September, 2006.

Zimmerman FJ, Christakis DA, Meltzoff AN. Media Viewing by Children Under 2 Years Old. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. 2007 May; 161(5):473-479.

Zimmerman FJ, Christakis DA, Meltzoff AN. Associations Between Media Viewing and Language Development Among Children Under 2 Years Old Journal of Pediatrics 2007 Oct;151(4):364-8.

Zimmerman FJ and Christakis DA. Associations between content types of early media exposure and subsequent attentional problems. Pediatrics 2007 Nov;120(5):986-92.