The important points from our analyses are two-fold. First, the implications of family change for family poverty appeared to be larger in Appalachia than in non-Appalachian areas, independent of regional differences in employment opportunities, industrial structure, demographic variables, and unobserved state and county variables. Second, family effects, notably those associated with changing female headship, were estimated to be larger than those for conventional economic and human capital variables. Our simulations in fact suggested that family poverty would have been roughly 10 to 15 percent lower than the observed poverty rate if Appalachian families had not changed since 1990.
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