RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 A Mighty Toll
JF Journal of Human Resources
JO J Hum Resour
FD University of Wisconsin Press
SP 0922-12547R2
DO 10.3368/jhr.0922-12547R2
A1 Goldstein, Ezra G.
YR 2025
UL http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2025/01/03/jhr.0922-12547R2.abstract
AB This paper estimates the causal effects of parental loss on a child’s adulthood economic well-being by leveraging digitized records of nearly all early 20th-century U.S. mining accidents. I compare the outcomes of sons of fatal mining accident victims to those with fathers experiencing serious non-fatal accidents. Adult sons who lost their fathers when they were young experienced an 18 percent loss of income and had worse labor market outcomes. Examining families following the accident shows that widowed mothers were substantially more likely to take on the role of sole head of household and enter the labor market.