In recent times we have seen the income distribution in many developed nations expand, meaning that the gap between rich and poor has grown. Coupled with this is the resultant degradation of economic and social mobility. This serves to show that they there is a tendency for those that are poor, to remain poor. There are a number of causal factors that seemingly predicate this fate of a poverty cycle. The issues that contribute to this range from the education and wellbeing of the individual, societal influences and values, their spending habits, their living conditions as well as their ability to access funding as a means of fuelling entrepreneurial endeavours.
Those that are born into poor families will not have access to the resources that those who are born into more fortunate families will be. This is highlighted by the education and wellbeing levels that are typically seen amongst the poor. In poor families there is typically a child who is unable to attend school or is unable to make a satisfactory attempt at learning due to the family’s inability to provide appropriate resources. Instances like this result in high illiteracy rates amongst the poor. This, from the outset of the child’s life, ensures that their career will be significantly hampered and job finding will be far harder, if not impossible. A similar trap exists with regards to the malnourishment of typically poor people. Those who are undernourished will be drastically less productive at work and in turn, will find their wages decreasing. This creates a cycle whereby the poor aren’t able to afford further sources of sustenance due to their dwindling source of income. These education and undernourishment traps go a long way to creating a poverty ceiling that heavily impedes the ability for those that are poor to become affluent.
Amongst the poor there are stark differences in the cultural and