Bryan Caplan's analysis of the causes of poverty — arguing that individual behavior plays a larger role than structural factors, and that most anti-poverty programs fail because they don't address behavioral causes.
Against structural determinism in poverty analysis: Caplan argues that while structural factors (discrimination, poor schools, lack of opportunity) exist, individual behavioral factors (low conscientiousness, poor planning, substance use) explain a substantial portion of the poverty gap. Policy implication: programs that ignore behavioral factors will systematically underperform. The book's provocativeness is its refusal to exempt poor people from the same behavioral analysis applied to everyone else.
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