Geography of American poverty: “Internal colonies” where life is short – CBS
“The analysis comes as more researchers are focusing on the impact of geography on poverty, with the Economic Innovation Group earlier this month analyzing communities that suffer from ‘persistent poverty,’ or intergenerational impoverishment. That group’s analysis found that 35 million Americans live in these regions, or more than 70% higher than earlier thought.
“The ‘internal colonies’ analyzed by Edin and her co-authors — Appalachia, the Tobacco Belt of Virginia and the Carolinas, the Cotton Belt in the South and South Texas — share additional economic traits that limit the social mobility of its residents…
“Some of the disadvantaged regions have markedly lower life expectancies than the U.S. as a whole and compared with wealthier counties. Men who live in McDowell, West Virginia, in the heart of Appalachia’s coal country, have an average life expectancy of 64 years old, on par with what is found in Bolivia or Ghana. By comparison, men who live in wealthy counties such as Fairfax, Virginia, or Marin, California, can expect to live to 81 years on average.”
The part of Louisiana with the best chance at upward economic mobility for kids – msn