This dissertation includes three essays. The first two fit in the economics of transfer programs literature, focusing on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in the United States. These essays collectively contribute to our understanding of how variation in the real value of nominally equitable government assistance programs influence participants’ decisions on labor supply, food choices and health outcomes. Despite being one of the largest means-tested federal programs in the U.S., there is limited evidence on the labor supply impacts of SNAP in recent years. Leveraging geographical variation in food prices, which creates differences in the purchasing power of SNAP benefits, the first essay “Does SNAP Purchasing Power impact Labor Supply?” examines the impact of SNAP purchasing power on participants’ work decisions. Consistent with economic theory, the research finds evidence of modest work disincentives, with stronger effects observed for single mothers and hourly wage earners. This highlights the importance of considering regional economic disparities when designing and evaluating social welfare programs. The second essay “”SNAP Purchasing Power, Nutrition and Health” explores the relationship between SNAP purchasing power and the dietary choices and health outcomes of program participants. Utilizing recent restricted access data on food purchases and health outcomes, the study finds that higher purchasing power is associated with a decrease in the consumption of certain healthy foods like green vegetables and whole grains. The essays shows that higher SNAP purchasing power is associated with higher obesity rates, and a reduction in the likelihood of depression. This paper provides one of the first evidence on the impacts of geographic variation in food costs on nutrition and health outcomes for adult SNAP participants. The third essay, “Extending Fiscal Incidence Analysis to Government Infrastructure Spending” fits in the fiscal incidence analysis literature. In this essay, we demonstrate ways by which standard tax incidence analysis can be extended to benefit incidence analysis of transportation infrastructure investments. The essay discusses two approaches for evaluating the distribution of benefits from government infrastructure programs. Using survey data from Indonesia and geo-spatial data from Mozambique, we illustrate both approaches. This essay is joint work with James Alm.