History Main / RulesOfOrphanEconomics

* '''Type I''': He probably shouldn't worry about the situation. No problem, he's an orphan, right? The cereal in the cupboard will restock itself and the letter carrier will skip over his house when the taxes are due. The Internet will work cost-free and his boombox will still impress the ladies come Sunday night.
* '''Type II''': In a wonderful twist of fate, some awesome, wealthy, kind person or organization who may or may not have known Bobby's parents has decided to pay for all of Bobby's expenses! In fact, the orphans may even gain help through inheritance.
* '''Type III''': Worst case scenario, in a brutal take on {{Truth in Television}}, Bobby will be forced to somehow pay for all his expenses by working, whether it be stealing, factory work or whatever.

* While they aren't exactly orphans (their mother is alive but wasn't aware of their situation), the scenario is portrayed in something of a Type II in ''Fanfic/TheOutside'', as Satsuki and Ryuuko do seem to be living off of resources their passed on dad left for them and they are implied to be wealthy, especially since the former is agoraphobic and isn't mentioned to be stepping out of the house willingly.
* In ''Fanfic/{{Paradoxus}}'', if you are from Domino and a female war orphan with an aptitude for magic and the right age, then you're probably going to get recruited cough cough kidnapped cough cough by some mysterious nymph, then hellishly trained so you can serve as the bodyguard and personal army of Domino's heiress. Well, at least you now have a new purpose in life and you get food, a place to sleep, and a cool bow! Note that you were previously a Type III.

* Both ends of the fortune spectrum are incorporated into the backstories of two of the main five characters in ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica''. On the realistic destitution end, you have Kyoko, whose family was wiped out in her past [[spoiler:via PaterFamilicide because her father had a mental breakdown after finding out the family's sudden uptick in attendance wasn't because of his message but because of his daughter's wish to give him a CompellingVoice]] and she's living the street life, at most sleeping in cheap motels and constantly stealing food to survive. On the fortunate end (at least as far as material comfort), you have Mami, who despite both her parents dying in a car crash is a MinorLivingAlone in a decently furnished apartment.

* In Creator/GeneStrattonPorter's ''Literature/MichaelOHalloran'', Mickey does odd jobs to support himself. Then, given the time frame, children worked then. He was working even before his mother's death, and she had carefully prepared him to live on his own.
* ''Literature/DavidCopperfield'' had his stepfather sent him to London to work, ran away to his great-aunt and got adopted by her.

* ''Literature/TheHungerGames'': Katniss still has a mother, but she might as well be furniture after her father died in a mining accident, which [[ExcessiveMourning sent Mrs. Everdeen into years-long shock]] so bad she was not able to provide for herself, let alone her two daughters. At some point, the three nearly died to starvation, until Peeta donated Katniss a loaf of bread out of pity, giving her motivation to earn money by hunting. Eventually, her mother recovered and started contributing to the family's finances, but Katniss remains the primary breadwinner.

* '''Type II''': In a wonderful twist of fate, some awesome, wealthy and kind person or organization who may or may not have known Bobby's parents has decided to pay for all of Bobby's expenses! In fact, the orphans may even gain help through inheritance.
* '''Type III''': Worst case scenario, in a brutal take on {{Truth in Television}}, Bobby will be forced to somehow pay for all his expenses by working, whether it be stealing or factory work, or whatever.

* '''Type II''': In a wonderful twist of fate, some awesome, wealthy, kind person or organization who may or may not have known Bobby's parents has decided to pay for all of Bobby's expenses! In fact, the orphans may even gain help through inheritance.

* [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Bruce Wayne]] is supported by [[MegaCorp Wayne Enterprises]] (which he will eventually run) when his parents are killed in a mugging, and is given a foster mother as a caretaker. Robin (or at least [[ComicBook/{{Nightwing}} Dick Grayson]], Jason Todd, and eventually [[ComicBook/RobinSeries Tim Drake]]) is taken in, in turn, by Bruce.

* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', the fourth Hokage's dying request was that the village take care of his son. They comply, in the most grudging, mean-spirited way possible.
* In ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAs '', Hayate Yagami's source of funds is brushed off as a wealthy friend of her late parents. [[spoiler:In reality, it is a rogue TSAB Admiral waiting for her to become one with the [[ArtifactOfDoom Book of Darkness]] in hopes of trapping it before too much of the world gets lain waste to.]]
** In ''[[Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikers StrikerS]]'', it was established early on that Fate had been providing for Erio and Caro before they enlisted.
* ''Shounen Maid'': When the protagonist's mother died, he thought (and was ready to accept) he'd be alone, but then he then learned she eloped from a wealthy family because they didn't approve his father and her brother took him in.
* Sailor Jupiter in ''Franchise/SailorMoon'' seems to live without any visible means of support. {{Fanon}} often presumes a parental trust fund, but there was no mention of same in the show or comic.
* In ''Anime/PleaseTwins''. Maiku makes his money as a freelance, work-from-home programmer. (His employers are unaware that he's a minor.) The girls' source of livelihood, though, is never mentioned.
* ''Anime/GraveOfTheFireflies'' is a pretty good example of the worst-case scenario. And then [[FromBadToWorse it gets worse]].

* ''Nobody Knows'' by Hirokazu Kore-Eda: Four children are abandoned by their irresponsible mother, and are on their own in an apartment in which food and other supplies are slowly running out. With no money, they must resort to various means to find food and keep up a pretense of normality (not that anyone seems to care, hence the title). Not all of them make it. Unfortunately, based on a true story.
* ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Girl_Who_Lives_Down_the_Lane The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane]]''. Website/TheOtherWiki article says her father "...made plans to allow Rynn to live alone...", presumably including financial matters.

I. He probably shouldn't worry about the situation. No problem, he's an orphan, right? The cereal in the cupboard will restock itself and the letter carrier will skip over his house when the taxes are due. The Internet will work cost-free and his boombox will still impress the ladies come Sunday night.
II. In a wonderful twist of fate, some awesome, wealthy, kind person or organization who may or may not have known Bobby's parents has decided to pay for all of Bobby's expenses! In fact, the orphans may even gain help through inheritance.
III. Worst case scenario: In a brutal take on {{Truth in Television}}, Bobby will be forced to somehow pay for all his expenses by working, whether it be stealing or factory work, or whatever.

* ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Girl_Who_Lives_Down_the_Lane The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane]]''. Wiki/TheOtherWiki article says her father "...made plans to allow Rynn to live alone...", presumably including financial matters.

Sorting through Wiki/TheOtherWiki's [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notable_orphans list of notable literary orphans]] (at the bottom), other tropers can probably help expand this article, so if you've read any of those stories, sort the orphans.

* In ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAs '', [[IllGirl Hayate Yagami's]] source of funds is brushed off as a wealthy friend of her late parents. [[spoiler:In reality, it is a rogue TSAB Admiral waiting for her to become one with the [[ArtifactOfDoom Book of Darkness]] in hopes of trapping it before too much of the world gets lain waste to.]]

* ''VideoGame/RecettearAnItemShopsTale'': Recette is left to fend for herself, [[spoiler:and work as a shopkeeper to pay off the massive debt left behind by her father,]] but with a good amount of adventuring involved as well.

[[folder:Visual Novel]]

* Riki Naoe, the protagonist of ''VisualNovel/LittleBusters', mentions in the second Rin route that he has an inheritance left behind by his parents, [[spoiler:which he uses to get by after he and Rin run away from school]], but also mentions that he feels awkward spending the last thing connecting him to his parents. That route also establishes that he does have a legal guardian who took him in and it's implied they take care of expenses like the BoardingSchool he attends, but it's also implied Riki isn't really close to them emotionally.

* It's been pointed out on the [[''Headscratchers/KatawaShoujo'' headscratchers page for Katawa Shoujo]] that it's never explained how the character of [[ShrinkingViolet Hanako]] [[BrokenBird Ikezawa]], a penniless orphan, is able to afford her studies in an expensive, prestigious, specialized private boarding school. Other characters are explicitly shown or stated to be rich, enjoy generous scholarships, or simply have families who can support them, but Hanako's story outright shows that she can't financially support herself, leaving the question of her studies a bit of a mystery. Some people like to believe that the school itself (which was originally created for the benefit of disabled children, and has influential backers) would support her, but the page itself points out, this sounds a lot like wishful thinking. As kind as everyone in the story is, running such an expensive operation as a private school for the physically handicapped as a charity just wouldn't work in real life.