A Study of the Region: Regional Differences in Socioeconomic Well-Being in Appalachia

This paper investigates regional differences in socioeconomic well-being in Appalachia at the end of the 1980s. Recent studies show that south Appalachian counties had higher levels of well-being at this time. I propose these regional differences in Appalachia were the result of regional differences among nonmetro counties. Using a model informed by human ecology literature, I argue that southern nonmetro counties had greater sustenance diversity and less dependence on sustenance functions (mining in particular) associated with higher poverty and lower incomes than other nonmetro counties in Appalachia. The model also includes measures of local competitive effects (population density, education level of population, proxy measures for infrastructure quality, per capita federal spending, etc), which have been shown to be important predictors of well-being. Using Costat-4 and Census data, I perform 1) difference of means tests on all key independent and dependent variables at the end of the 1970s and 1980s and 2) OLS cross-sectional analysis for the same periods. With some exceptions, the results generally support my hypothesis that regional differences in socioeconomic well-being in Appalachia come from nonmetro counties. Implications for theory and research are discussed.