This dissertation studies a number of issues related to Development Economics. The first chapter explains how we can use multiple correspondence analysis to calculate an asset index, and then offers an inequality analysis using the asset index. The second chapter provides a theoretical explanation of an odd relationship between child labor and per capita land holding in a household, and then provides empirical evidence for the explanation. Finally, the third chapter represents the results of a study of the behavior of rural households during shocks. Across the entire dissertation, we use three cross sectional surveys, conducted in 2001, 2007-8 and 2010-11 in Zimbabwe. / Ph. D.