Effects of Parental Death on Labor Market Outcomes

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Jensen, Mathias Fjaellegaard; Zhang, Ning
• 署名单位: University of Oxford; Chinese University of Hong Kong
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0002-8282; 1944-7981
• DOI: 10.1257/aer.20240432
• 发表日期: 2026-05
• 页码: 1811-1836
• 关键词: inequality evidence; adult children; HEALTH; care

摘要

We use Danish administrative data to examine the effects of parental death on labor market outcomes. Leveraging the timing of sudden, first parental deaths and a matched-control difference-in-differences strategy, we find that men's earnings decline by 2 percent, while women's earnings decline by 3 percent following a parental death. Both women and men experience mental health deterioration, leading to increased use of psychological assistance and prescriptions for mental health conditions and opioids. Women with young children experience a comparatively larger earnings decline (around 4 percent) likely due to the loss of informal childcare. (JEL D91, I12, J13, J16, J31)