We quantify the effect of a parent's absence on a child's future earnings. A parent's absence
because of separation or divorce reduces a child's lifetime earnings between 3 and 12
percent. Lifetime educational attainment is adversely affected by between 2 and 4 percent if
a parent of the same gender as the child dies (a smaller impact than if absence is because
of separation or divorce). No such adverse effect is found if a girl's father or a boy's mother
dies. We conclude that it is sensible that lifetime earnings loss to children not be estimated in …

Forensic economists frequently estimate the economic losses arising from the loss of a
parent. Estimates are also often estimated associated with wrongful injuries to a minor child.
After reviewing other literature in economics and psychology, we quantify the effect of the
absence of a parent on a child's future earnings by expanding the Kane-Spizman model
(2001) to examine how the loss of a parent to death, separation, or divorce affects the future
earnings of a minor child. After this quantitative exercise, we next discuss data limitations …