Rose, ElainaHuang, Shih-Ting2018-01-202018-01-202017Huang_washington_0250E_18149.pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/1773/40876Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2017This dissertation evaluates the effects of tax policies on fertility and on women’s return to work and effects of land policies on women’s empowerment. In the first chapter, I study the impacts of the introduction of the child tax credit in 1998 and the expansions of the child tax credit and the child and dependent care credit (CDCC) in 2003. I use Current Population Survey data to evaluate the effects of tax policies on fertility. I find that the child-related tax credits have a positive and significant impact on the likelihood of having a child for married couples. The results suggest that providing monetary incentives is an effective way to encourage fertility. In the second chapter, I examine the effect of tax policies on new mothers’ return to work. As a part of Bush tax cuts, the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 increased the child tax credit and the CDCC and reduced the federal individual income tax rates. With the limitation that the sample includes mothers of relatively young ages, the estimated results suggest that new mothers who graduated from high school may return to work sooner after the tax cuts. It provides some evidence that tax policies influence mothers’ decision about the timing of return to work. In the third chapter, which is a joint work with Karina Kloos, we assess the impacts of a homestead land titling program in West Bengal, India, that targets landless populations and promotes the inclusion of women’s names on land titles. Using panel data collected in 2012 and 2015, we explore the effects of women’s land titling on two measures of empowerment: perceptions of land tenure insecurity and land inheritance decision-making. We find consistent evidence that land titling strengthens women’s perceived participation in the decision of land inheritance, but mixed evidence that the inclusion of women’s names on land titles decreases their own perceived tenure insecurity. The findings suggest that formal land titling can strengthen the enforceability and durability of women’s land rights. However, recognition and perceived legitimacy of those rights by family and community members especially may take more time to manifest and thereby contribute more fully to women’s empowerment.application/pdfen-USnoneEconomicsLabor economicsPublic policyEconomicsThesis