Urbina, Mariana2020-08-252020-08-252020-02https://hdl.handle.net/11299/215100University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. 2020. Major: Applied Economics. Advisor: Paul Glewwe. 1 computer file (PDF); 200 pages.This dissertation consists of three independent essays in microeconomics that analyze, respectively, the impact of the Integral Health Insurance (Seguro Integral de Salud, SIS) on health care utilization and maternal health outcomes in Peru, the impact of food tortilla prices on insecurity in Mexico, and the impact of the AgMag magazine on students' test scores in Minnesota. The evidence presented in the first essay, "The effects of SIS expansion on Maternal Health Care Utilization and Health Outcomes," indicates that SIS increased maternal health care utilization, but it improved only one health outcome. The second essay, "Rising Staple Prices and Food Insecurity: The Case of Tortillas in Mexico," suggests that increasing tortilla prices affected food insecurity rates in Mexico, although the statistical significance of this impact is not robust to adding time trends or the consumer price index for food as controls. The third essay, "Impact Evaluation of the AgMag Magazine," finds no strong evidence for a positive impact of the AgMag magazine on sixth-grade students' scores on assessments of social studies knowledge and agricultural literacy.enThesis or Dissertation