“What causes poverty? Nothing. It’s the original state, the default and starting point. The real question is, What causes prosperity?” is a saying that has been printed on many images. The saying was developed by several authors.
 
American-Canadian journalist, author, theorist, and activist Jane Jacobs (1916-2006) wrote in The Economy of Cities (1969):
 
“To seek ‘causes’ of poverty in this way is to enter an intellectual dead end because poverty has no causes. Only prosperity has causes. Analogically, heat is a result of active processes; it has causes. But cold is not the result of any processes; it is only the absence of heat. Just so, the great cold of poverty and economic stagnation is merely the absence of economic development. .It can be overcome only if the relevant economic processes are in motion.”
 
British researcher and author Madsen Pirie (co-founder of the Adam Smith Institute) wrote on the Adam Smith Institute website, in answer to “It is important for us to understand the causes of poverty” on March 15, 2008:
   
“No. There are no causes of poverty. It is the rest state, that which happens when you don’t do anything. If you want to experience poverty, just do nothing and it will come. To ask what causes poverty is like asking what causes cold in the universe; it is the absence of energy. Similarly poverty is the absence of wealth. For most of humanity’s existence on this planet, poverty has been the norm, the natural condition. People hunted to survive or lived by subsistence farming, and they were poor. In some parts of the world this is still the case.”
   
Mises Institute senior fellow Per Bylund posted on X/Twitter on November 15, 2015:
   
“What causes #poverty? Nothing. It’s the original state, the default and starting point. The real question is, What causes #prosperity?” 
 
       
Google Books
The Economy of Cities
By Jane Jacobs
New York, NY: Random House
1969
Pg. 121
To seek “causes” of poverty in this way is to enter an intellectual dead end because poverty has no causes. Only prosperity has causes. Analogically, heat is a result of active processes; it has causes. But cold is not the result of any processes; it is only the absence of heat. Just so, the great cold of poverty and economic stagnation is merely the absence of economic development. .It can be overcome only if the relevant economic processes are in motion.
 
Adam Smith Institute
15 March 2008
Common Error No. 61
Dr. Madsen Pirie
61. “It is important for us to understand the causes of poverty.”
 
No. There are no causes of poverty. It is the rest state, that which happens when you don’t do anything. If you want to experience poverty, just do nothing and it will come. To ask what causes poverty is like asking what causes cold in the universe; it is the absence of energy. Similarly poverty is the absence of wealth. For most of humanity’s existence on this planet, poverty has been the norm, the natural condition. People hunted to survive or lived by subsistence farming, and they were poor. In some parts of the world this is still the case.
 
The unusual condition is wealth. This is what changes things. We should ask what are the causes of wealth and try to recreate and reproduce them. When you ask the wrong question, “What causes poverty,” you end up with wrong answers. People fall into the trap of thinking that the wealth of some causes the poverty in others, as if there were a fixed amount of wealth in the world and that rich people had seized too large a share of it.
 
X/Twitter
Antony Davies
@antonydavies
To ask what causes poverty is like asking what causes cold. Poverty is the absence of wealth. We should ask what are the causes of wealth?
6:52 AM · Mar 11, 2009
 
X/Twitter
Jarrett Skorup
@JarrettSkorup
“Similarly, poverty is the absence of wealth. We should ask, ‘what are the causes of wealth?’ ”  — Madsen Pirie
2:59 PM · Sep 13, 2013
 
X/Twitter
MichCapCon
@MichCapCon
“There are no causes of poverty. Poverty is the absence of wealth. We should ask, ‘what are the causes of wealth?’ ”  — Madsen Pirie
1:10 PM · Oct 3, 2013
 
X/Twitter
Mackinac Center
@MackinacCenter
What causes poverty? Nothing.
(The following text is shown on an image.—ed.)
“There are no causes of poverty. To ask what causes poverty is like asking what causes cold—it is the absence of energy. Similarly, poverty is the absence of wealth. We should ask, ‘What are the causes of wealth?’”
Madsen Pirie
4:20 PM · Sep 23, 2015
 
X/Twitter
Kevin Sorbo
@ksorbs
“What causes poverty?  Nothing.  It is the natural state of the human being.”
Can’t remember where I heard that… http://fb.me/2e2v6FWmK
9:30 PM · Oct 14, 2015
 
X/Twitter
Per Bylund
@PerBylund
What causes #poverty? Nothing. It’s the original state, the default and starting point. The real question is, What causes #prosperity?
9:34 AM · Nov 15, 2015
 
X/Twitter
Alice Smith
@TheAliceSmith
“What causes #poverty? Nothing. It’s the original state, the default and starting point. The real question is, What causes #prosperity?”
@PerBylund
Quote
Anita Hanjaab💧White House Intern Press Satire
@ThatMorph
Dec 30, 2020
Replying to @TheAliceSmith
I wonder where all the poor come from
8:09 AM · Dec 30, 2020
   
Reddit—Quotes
sunrise274 January 3, 2022
“What causes poverty? Nothing. It’s the original state, the default and starting point. The real question is, ‘what causes prosperity?’” — Steven Pinker
   
iFunny
crispyhmmm_2021
19 may 2022
Hmmm
Per Bylund What causes poverty? Nothing. It’s the original state, the default and starting point. The real question is, What causes prosperity?
   
eddit—Neoliberal
tonymmorley September 22, 2022
“Poverty has no causes. Only prosperity has causes.” - Jane Jacobs 💸
(The following text is shown on an image.—ed.)
“Poverty has no causes. Only prosperity has causes. Analogically, heat is the result of active processes; it has causes. But cold is not the result of any processes; it is only the absence if heat. Just so, the great cold of poverty and economic stagnation is merely the absence of economic development.”
The Economy of Cities, C1969
Jane Jacobs
 
X/Twitter
Rothmus 🏴
@Rothmus
(The following text is shown on an image.—ed.)
WHAT CAUSES POVERTY?
NOTHING.
IT"S THE ORIGINAL STATE,
THE DEAULT, AND
STARTING POINT.
THE REAL QUESTION IS,
WHAT CAUSES
PROSPERITY?
12:24 PM · Feb 8, 2024