Lee, Jongwook2022-02-152022-02-152019-12https://hdl.handle.net/11299/226395University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. December 2019. Major: Applied Economics. Advisor: Paul Glewwe. 1 computer file (PDF); ix, 141 pages.This dissertation consists of three independent essays on health and educational issues in underprivileged populations, such as children and elderly people, in low- and middle-income countries. The first essay is the first study that investigates the effects of providing eyeglasses on academic performance for school-age children in Vietnam using a randomized controlled trial. In the first essay, I find that school-age children have limited access to eye health care services in Vietnam, and providing eyeglasses improves children’s academic performance. The second essay examines the impact of cataract surgery on quality of life and poverty in rural Malawi. The evidence shows that cataract surgery increases surgery recipients’ health-related quality of life and their household living standards not only in the short term but also in the medium term. In the third essay, I analyze the effect of early childhood malnutrition on human capital development in Ethiopia. The results find no significant evidence of a link between early childhood malnutrition and cognitive and non-cognitive skills development in the presence of weak instruments.endevelopment economicseducationhealthimpact evaluationtreatment effectThesis or Dissertation