Abstract

Recent scholarly and popular attention has been drawn to the problem of regional definitions of Appalachia and the effectiveness of the programs of the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC). In 1978, the ARC's delineation of Appalachia was statistically evaluated with respect to socioeconomic and physical criteria. It was concluded that while the federal region was relatively homogeneous, there was significant variation on the periphery of the region. The primary purpose of this paper is to determine whether the ARC's delineation of Appalachian Kentucky continues to bound an area of relatively homogeneous socioeconomic characteristics during the 1980s and 1990s. Discriminant analysis is used to classify counties as lying within or outside the ARC region on the basis of 17 socioeconomic variables. The results suggest that the federal definition of Appalachian Kentucky has remained remarkably durable. Few counties were reclassified as having socioeconomic characteristics that were "non-Appalachian." This durability, however, raises questions about the level of success of ARC programs in helping an economically lagging region.

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