Noah Smith: Poverty is about personal stress, not laziness

Noah Smith: Poverty is about personal stress, not laziness

The constant effort to make ends meet can lead to mistakes in judgment

The nature of poverty in rich countries has changed. The sort of material deprivation common in developing nations is effectively a thing of the past. But millions of Americans lead precarious lives — always on the verge of getting evicted, not knowing where their next meal will come from, or unsure how they’ll be able to generate an income. This precarious existence has replaced abject deprivation as the fundamental market of poverty.

Many believe such lifestyles are the result of low effort or poor individual choices. If people […]

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