<b>Essays on Government Policy and Household Welfare</b>

<p dir="ltr">When and why do government policies succeed in improving household welfare? This dissertation examines this fundamental question through three empirical essays investigating how policy design and implementation conditions determine the effectiveness of government interventions. Using rigorous causal identification strategies across diverse contexts, healthcare access, income support, and rural development—the research provides evidence on the conditions under which policies achieve their intended outcomes and the factors that limit their effectiveness.</p><p dir="ltr">The first essay investigates the impact of improved healthcare access on the dietary quality of low-income adults. It employs the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion as a policy shock and links household-level grocery purchase data with nutritional metrics from USDA sources. Using a staggered difference-in-differences design, the analysis reveals that Medicaid expansion leads to a modest increase in food expenditures and improved diet quality, particularly through higher consumption of nutrient-dense food groups. However, these nutritional gains are particularly among White households, with more limited gains observed for Black and Hispanic groups, suggesting persistent disparities linked to structural inequalities. These findings demonstrate that removing financial barriers to healthcare access can improve outcomes but may not eliminate underlying disparities rooted in structural inequalities.</p><p dir="ltr">The second essay investigates how household characteristics moderate the effects of unconditional cash transfers on consumption behavior. The study analyzes the 2021 expanded Child Tax Credit, which provided monthly payments to eligible families, using data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey. The research distinguishes the responses of extremely low-income households from those of higher-income eligible groups. Results show that the cash transfers increased liquidity and affected consumption patterns differently across income levels, with the poorest households showing increases in non-essential spending while exhibiting no significant changes in food expenditure. These findings suggest that short-term transfers may improve financial flexibility without necessarily altering fundamental consumption patterns, particularly among the most vulnerable populations.</p><p dir="ltr">The third essay evaluates how local economic conditions determine the effectiveness of place-based development policies. The study examines China's National Revitalization Plan for Old Revolutionary Base Areas using panel data from the China Household Dynamics Survey and employing advanced causal inference techniques, including matched difference-in-differences approaches. The analysis reveals substantial heterogeneity in policy effects across different agricultural zones. While the average treatment effect on household agricultural income is modest, rice-growing regions experienced significant income gains, whereas wheat and corn regions showed negligible effects. This variation reflects differences in market integration, value chain development, and comparative advantages across crop systems.</p><p dir="ltr">Together, these essays contribute to our understanding of policy heterogeneity by identifying three critical conditions that determine intervention success: the presence of complementary institutional support, the alignment between policy design and target population characteristics, and the compatibility between interventions and local economic structures. The findings reveal that effective policies require not only adequate resources but also careful attention to implementation contexts and underlying structural factors.</p>