Skip to content

Poverty isn’t a lack of character. It’s a lack of cash

Why do people living in poverty make so many poor decisions?

That’s not meant to be a harsh question: people living in poverty borrow more, save less, smoke more, exercise less, drink more and eat less healthily. Why? 

Margaret Thatcher, the former British prime minister, called poverty a "personality defect", but she couldn’t have been more wrong.

In my Ted talk, I look at how poverty affects the brain and why universal basic income could be revolutionary.

YouTube
‘Poverty isn’t a lack of character; it’s a lack of cash.’ Courtesy of TED.com.
Progress correspondent