History Main / RulesOfOrphanEconomics

* [[{{Shazam}} Billy Batson]], the world's youngest full-time radio presenter, started out as homeless, selling newspapers near a subway station.

* [[{{Shazam}} Billy Batson]], the world's youngest full-time radio presenter.

* Jane Eyre begins as an orphan in the household of her aunt by marriage who reluctantly provides her with a home. She then goes to Lowood school where she doesn't exactly have to work for her keep but the conditions are terrible and she excels in her classes to prove herself. Following this she does earn her keep by becoming a teacher at the school. She then becomes a governess at Thornfield. Finally, at the end of the novel she conveniently receives a huge inheritance from the uncle she never knew who wanted to adopt her all along before he died.

* ''{{Recettear}}'' is left to fend for herself, but with a good amount of adventuring involved as well.

* In ''VisualNovel/HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi'', it is eventually revealed that Irie is taking care of Satoko and Rika and the two are technically under the custody of the village chief Kimiyoshi. It is left unexplained for most of the series until then.

* In ''OnegaiTwins''. 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.

* ''GraveOfTheFireflies'' is a pretty good example of the worst-case scenario. And then [[FromBadToWorse it gets worse]].

* In ''HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi'', it is eventually revealed that Irie is taking care of Satoko and Rika and the two are technically under the custody of the village chief Kimiyoshi. It is left unexplained for most of the series until then.

* ''DavidCopperfield'' had his stepfather sent him to London to work, ran away to his great-aunt and got adopted by her.
* In ''Lock and Key'' by SarahDessen this happens to the main character Ruby. She lives in a single parent household until her mother disappears. She attempts to work and go to school until she turns 18. Unfortunately a social worker comes and forces her to move in with her older sister.

* Shirou in ''FateStayNight'' is being taken care of by... well, [[{{yakuza}} a yakuza head,]] who was a friend of his father. The Yakuza head's sweet granddaughter drops by every now and then to make sure he hasn't got into any trouble as he lives in his dad's giant sweet mansion, but he's still an entirely emancipated minor. Shirou, however, has a streak of independence which makes him keep the ''entire giant mansion'' clean all by himself, with only one of his younger female classmates coming by to help. The sweet granddaughter, despite being sweet, is no help, instead sponging off of him to devour his great homemade meals. Shirou also maintains an income by fixing up the Yakuza head's motorcycle and keeping up with three different part-time jobs. In times of need, however, Shirou can ask for a maid from the Yakuza head to keep his house in order.

[[AC: RealLife]]

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

This is where the road will fork:

[[AC: Type 1:]]

[[AC: Type 2:]]

[[AC: Type 3:]]

Because these scenarios seem to set off the FridgeLogic sensors in viewers' brains, barely any Type 1 examples are left these days. Typically, Type 1 will occur for part of a story until it is later explained that someone is taking care of the orphans.

Since Type 1 can only be determined after a series has ended (and the economic stability has been left open-ended or largely forgotten by the author), please refrain from listing examples under Type 1 until the work has been finished.

!!Type 1:

* Sailor Jupiter in ''Franchise/SailorMoon''. {{Fanon}} often presumes a parental trust fund, but there was no mention of same in the show or comic.

[[AC: {{Literature}}]]
* ''PeterPan''

[[AC: LiveActionTelevision]]
* After Joyce's death in ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' and Buffy's PromotionToParent, Buffy does not work a paying job but still somehow manages to pay the bills. Her financial concerns later become plot points in season 6, though.
** It's mentioned in season 6 that Joyce had a life Insurance policy. It was mostly eaten up by medical bills, but only 'mostly', thus explaining where the money comes from in Season 5.
** And from Giles. And presumably the almost-DisappearedDad is paying Dawn's child support. And Willow and Tara live there (but Tara has no means of support either, so....)

!!Type 2:
[[AC: AnimeAndManga]]
* In ''{{Naruto}}'', the fourth Hokage's dying request was that the village take care of his son.
** This one might be justifiable: A village whose economy is based on soldiers of both sexes must have some solid program for orphans. If nothing else, orphans are easier to train into {{Tykebomb}}s, since they have no family attachments. Sai is a great example.

* ''ShounenMaid'': When the protagonist's mother died, he thought (and was ready to accept) he'd become a Type 1 but then he then learned she eloped from a wealthy family because they didn't approve his father and her brother took him in.

* ComicStrip/LittleOrphanAnnie, the defining example of type 2.

* Jane Eyre is an odd mix of Type 2 and 3. [[spoiler: She begins as an orphan in the household of her aunt by marriage who reluctantly provides her with a home. She then goes to Lowood school where she doesn't exactly have to work for her keep but the conditions are terrible and she excels in her classes to prove herself. Following this she does earn her keep by becoming a teacher at the school. She then becomes a governess at Thornfield. Finally, Type 2 returns at the end of the novel when she conveniently receives a huge inheritance from the uncle she never knew who wanted to adopt her all along before he died.]]

!!Type 3:
[[AC: AnimeAndManga]]
* In ''OnegaiTwins''. 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.
** At first they're freeloading, Maiku even makes a point out of it when stating that they're poor because he had parasites, they later get a part-time job.
* ''GraveOfTheFireflies'' is a pretty good example of a type 3. And then [[FromBadToWorse it gets worse]].
* ''TokyoMewMew'' has Bu-ling, the KidAppealCharacter of the group. She is eight years old when the series begins and, though only her mom's dead, her dad has gone off to train in the mountains and left her with five younger siblings to care for and a dojo to run -- but she's dirt poor, knows it, and has to perform in the street to pay the bills. Even when she's given a job at Cafe Mew Mew, she continues to perform -- sometimes even during work to entice the customers to give her tips -- and has to count her change to see if she can buy a bottle of ketchup. The anime had a filler episode revealing that her father apparently arranged for her to be engaged to a grown man, with the implication that it was only set up to legally allow her to keep the house.

[[AC: ComicBooks]]
* [[{{Shazam}} Billy Batson]], the world's youngest full-time radio presenter.

[[AC: {{Film}}]]
* ''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.

[[AC: {{Literature}}]]
* ''ALittlePrincess'' is type 3 turns type 2.
* In Creator/GeneStrattonPorter's ''Michael O'Halloran'', Mickey. 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.
* ''DavidCopperfield'' was a type 3 (his stepfather sent him to London to work), then became a type 2 after running away to his great-aunt and getting adopted by her.
* In ''Lock and Key'' by SarahDessen this happens to the main character Ruby. She lives in a single parent household until her mother disappears. She attempts to work and go to school until she turns 18. Unfortunately a social worker comes and forces her to move in with her older sister.

[[AC: NewspaperComics]]
* In the British newspaper strip ''ComicStrip/ThePerishers'', Wellington is an orphan who lives with his dog Boot, initially in a large concrete pipe in an abandoned factory yard, later in a closed railway station. It's never explained how the two of them survive, but the implication is that they live on handouts from Wellington's friends, plus Boot's theft of the occasional string of sausages.

[[AC: VideoGame]]
* Hilariously done in ''TheSims''. The children are literally unable to do anything about the taxes or get money.
** In the sequel game, the same thing happens with children, however Teens can live alone and get a job.
* ''{{Recettear}}'' is type 3, but with a good amount of adventuring involved as well.
* Seems to be the sad case for nearly all of the new orphan [=NPCs=] introduced in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' DLC ''Hearthfire''; however, if your PC adopts any of them, they could then theoretically turn to type 2, or at least would have a more comfortable life in any case.

* Jane Eyre is an odd mix of Type 2 and 3. [[spoiler: She begins as an orphan in the household of her aunt by marriage who reluctantly provides her with a home. She then goes to Lowood school where she doesn't exactly have to work for her keep but the conditions are terrible and she excels in her classes to prove herself. Following this she does earn her keep by becoming a teacher at the school. She then becomes a governess at Thornfield. Finally, Type 3 returns at the end of the novel when she conveniently receives a huge inheritance from the uncle she never knew who wanted to adopt her all along before he died.]]

[[AC: RealLife]]
* [[{{Shazam}} Billy Batson]], the world's youngest full-time radio presenter.

* Sailor Jupiter in ''SailorMoon''. {{Fanon}} often presumes a parental trust fund, but there was no mention of same in the show or comic.

* Hilariously done in ''TheSims''. The children are literally unable to do anything about the taxes or get money.
** In the sequel game, the same thing happens with children, however Teens can live alone and get a job.

* [[{{Shazam}} Billy Batson]], the world's youngest full-time radio presenter.
* In the British newspaper strip ''ComicStrip/ThePerishers'', Wellington is an orphan who lives with his dog Boot, initially in a large concrete pipe in an abandoned factory yard, later in a closed railway station. It's never explained how the two of them survive, but the implication is that they live on handouts from Wellington's friends, plus Boot's theft of the occasional string of sausages.

* ''GraveOfTheFireflies'' is a pretty good example of a type 3. And then [[FromBadToWorse it gets worse]].
* ''TokyoMewMew'' has Bu-ling, the KidAppealCharacter of the group. She is eight years old when the series begins and, though only her mom's dead, her dad has gone off to train in the mountains and left her with five younger siblings to care for and a dojo to run -- but she's dirt poor, knows it, and has to perform in the street to pay the bills. Even when she's given a job at Cafe Mew Mew, she continues to perform -- sometimes even during work to entice the customers to give her tips -- and has to count her change to see if she can buy a bottle of ketchup. The anime had a filler episode revealing that her father apparently arranged for her to be engaged to a grown man, with the implication that it was only set up to legally allow her to keep the house.
* ''{{Recettear}}'' is type 3, but with a good amount of adventuring involved as well.

* Seems to be the sad case for nearly all of the new orphan [=NPCs=] introduced in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' DLC ''Hearthfire''; however, if your PC adopts any of them, they could then theoretically turn to type 2, or at least would have a more comfortable life in any case.

[[AC: AmineAndManga]]

* In ''HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi'', it is eventually revealed that Irie is taking care of Satoko and Rika and the two are technically under the custody of the village chief Kimiyoshi. It is left unexplained for most of the series until then.

* Obliquely touched on in ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt''. By enrolling his daughter Antimony at the Court prior to his disappearance, Anthony Carver had insured that she would be provided for, since the Court has no tuition fees and provides for all the students' needs. ''[[InfiniteSupplies All of them.]]''
** [[spoiler: As if the Court would let a descendant of a fire elemental and a potential medium go anywhere else.]]
* Literature/HarryPotter has the Dursleys providing a roof over his head, and his parents' money for expenses in the magical world.
* Jane Eyre is an odd mix of Type 2 and 3. [[spoiler: She begins as an orphan in the household of her aunt by marriage who reluctantly provides her with a home. She then goes to Lowood school where she doesn't exactly have to work for her keep but the conditions are terrible and she excels in her classes to prove herself. Following this she does earn her keep by becoming a teacher at the school. She then becomes a governess at Thornfield. Finally, Type 3 returns at the end of the novel when she conveniently receives a huge inheritance from the uncle she never knew who wanted to adopt her all along before he died.]]
* ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Girl_Who_Lives_Down_the_Lane The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane]]''. TheOtherWiki article says her father "...made plans to allow Rynn to live alone...", presumably including financial matters.
* [[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 Dick Grayson) is taken in, in turn, by Bruce.
* ComicStrip/LittleOrphanAnnie, the defining example of type 2.

* Shirou in ''FateStayNight'' is being taken care of by... well, [[{{yakuza}} a yakuza head,]] who was a friend of his father. The Yakuza head's sweet granddaughter drops by every now and then to make sure he hasn't got into any trouble as he lives in his dad's giant sweet mansion, but he's still an entirely emancipated minor. Shirou, however, has a streak of independence which makes him keep the ''entire giant mansion'' clean all by himself, with only one of his younger female classmates coming by to help. The sweet granddaughter, despite being sweet, is no help, instead sponging off of him to devour his great homemade meals. Shirou also maintains an income by fixing up the Yakuza head's motorcycle and keeping up with three different part-time jobs. In times of need, however, Shirou can ask for a maid from the Yakuza head to keep his house in order.
* In the case of ''Literature/PippiLongstocking'', you wonder about this at first, until you realize that she actually has a whole pile of pirate gold on hand to pay for the things she needs. (And, a lot of the time, she has no idea of the actual value of the gold she's slapping down for trivial things like ice cream. She resists any attempt to give her change because that's too many little coins to keep track of.)

[[AC: LiveActionTelevision}}

!!Examples:

[[AC: Type 1:]]

* ''PeterPan''

[[AC: Type 2:]]

[[AC: Type 3:]]

* [[{{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 Dick Grayson) is taken in, in turn, by Bruce.

* HarryPotter has the Dursleys providing a roof over his head, and his parents' money for expenses in the magical world.

* Young [[CiemWebcomicSeries Candi Flippo]]. However, not having money problems means she has to worry about plenty of other things: like a [[AttemptedRape psychopath boyfriend]] in grade school or [[EverythingTryingToKillYou aliens that want to carve her like a pumpkin]].

* The Onlies in the ''StarTrek'' episode "Miri" have been living out of the supplies left by the original colony for three hundred years. Captain Kirk tells them they would not be able to survive much longer this way because the food's running out. Some fans speculate that they could have made it a while longer. Many children are capable of learning to take care of themselves, and space colonists would have emphasized this. Learning how to plant and grow food in gardens would have been a big deal; they would even have had books on it, and older kids would have taught younger ones to do this.