Me being intentionally provocative on Twitter:

The poor rarely understand the causes of poverty; if they did, they wouldn’t stay poor for long.

I’m aware of the obvious counter-examples, but the basic argument is simple:

1. Most people don’t like being poor.

2. If people understood the causes of poverty, they would know the best ways to avoid or escape it.

3. The best ways to avoid/escape poverty work well over the medium run.

4. Therefore, the people who understand the causes of poverty are rarely poor for long.

Corollary: The people who best understand the causes of poverty are typically people who started out poor but didn’t stay poor for long.