In this paper, I take advantage of newly available data in the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) to document outcomes among individuals with deceased parents. I focus first on minors and find that about 2 million children in the United States have a biological mother or father who is deceased. This is the first direct estimate of the size of the orphan population in the United States. Relative to children with both parents living, these maternal and paternal orphans have less favorable educational and health outcomes but similar levels of economic well-being. I find the Social Security program provides extensive (but not universal) support to the child survivor population, with participation in the program potentially affected by the earnings of deceased parents prior to death and by awareness of benefit eligibility by adult members in the child’s household. Similar to outcomes for child survivors, I find adult respondents who have deceased parents at the time of the SIPP have less favorable educational and health outcomes. In contrast to child survivors, adults with deceased parents – across a wide range of age groups – are more likely to have low levels of economic well-being. I also find, by examining a past legislative change in Social Security student benefits that would have affected several cohorts in the SIPP, that financial resources available to young adult survivors have effects on educational attainment and effects on income much later in life.

中文翻译：

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未成年和成年儿童的父母死亡率和结局

在本文中，我利用收入和计划参与调查 (SIPP) 中最新可用的数据来记录父母已故的个人的结果。我首先关注未成年人，发现美国大约有 200 万儿童的亲生母亲或父亲已故。这是对美国孤儿人口规模的首次直接估计。相对于双亲生活的儿童，这些母婴孤儿的教育和健康状况较差，但经济福利水平相似。我发现社会保障计划为儿童幸存者群体提供了广泛（但不是普遍）的支持，参与该计划可能会受到已故父母在去世前的收入以及儿童家庭中成年成员对福利资格的认识的影响。与儿童幸存者的结果类似，我发现在 SIPP 期间父母已故的成年受访者的教育和健康结果较差。与儿童幸存者相反，父母已故的成年人——跨越广泛的年龄组——更有可能经济福祉水平较低。我还发现，通过审查社会保障学生福利过去的立法变化，该变化可能会影响 SIPP 中的几个队列，年轻的幸存者可用的财政资源对教育程度产生影响，并对以后的收入产生影响。与儿童幸存者的结果类似，我发现在 SIPP 期间父母已故的成年受访者的教育和健康结果较差。与儿童幸存者相反，父母已故的成年人——跨越广泛的年龄组——更有可能经济福祉水平较低。我还发现，通过审查社会保障学生福利过去的立法变化，该变化可能会影响 SIPP 中的几个队列，年轻的幸存者可用的财政资源对教育程度产生影响，并对以后的收入产生影响。与儿童幸存者的结果类似，我发现在 SIPP 期间父母已故的成年受访者的教育和健康结果较差。与儿童幸存者相反，父母已故的成年人——跨越广泛的年龄组——更有可能经济福祉水平较低。我还发现，通过审查社会保障学生福利过去的立法变化，该变化可能会影响 SIPP 中的几个队列，年轻的幸存者可用的财政资源对教育程度产生影响，并对以后的收入产生影响。父母已故的成年人——跨越广泛的年龄组——更有可能经济福祉水平较低。我还发现，通过审查社会保障学生福利过去的立法变化，该变化可能会影响 SIPP 中的几个队列，年轻的幸存者可用的财政资源对教育程度产生影响，并对以后的收入产生影响。父母已故的成年人——跨越广泛的年龄组——更有可能经济福祉水平较低。我还发现，通过审查社会保障学生福利过去的立法变化，该变化可能会影响 SIPP 中的几个队列，年轻的幸存者可用的财政资源对教育程度产生影响，并对以后的收入产生影响。