After conducting the interview with Dr. Paul Conley, " Big City Medicine with Hometown Care,"  I feel there is more than monetary value, statistical charts plotting supply and demand, labor vs. management and economists' theories when addressing the economics of Appalachia. Based on the fact that Dr.  Conley is from Appalachia and has returned to Appalachia with all his latest medical knowledge, techniques, wisdom and hometown method of practicing medicine throws a clinker in the hub of practical economics and  economists' theories of using mathematical models to develop programs predicting answers to questions such as the nature and length of business cycles, the effects of a specific rate of inflation on the economy, or the effects.

Would Dr. Conley be considered an economic boom for Appalachia?  I would certainly think so but how do you measure caring and kindness on a flow chart or how do you calculate returning to the mountains to serve your people in real time.  These are economics questions that are not reflected on the charts, they are the human elements. 

In presenting facts and statistical data regarding the economy in Appalachia, please keep in mind there always remains the human element.  A boy and his dog versus being plotted in the upper half of the income bracket chart or the fact that more grandparents remain in the homes of their children in Appalachia than any other region.  The people of Appalachia have had a long, bitter struggle with economics according to the outside world but many of the residents there are a content, happy, independent mountain folk with survival skills that outweigh any type of market strategies.