Poverty isn't a lack of character; it's a lack of cash (Rutger Bregman) [Part 1] In this video Rutger shares with us his conclusions he made studying one of the significant world's problems - the poverty. At first he cited the British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher "Poverty is a personality defect". Back then she summed up with this phrase the explanation why the poor borrow more, save less, smoke more, exercise less, drink more and eat less healthfully. The standard assumption is that the poor make many dumb decisions and they should be responsible for their own mistakes. And many of us think if only we could help them, if only we could teach them how to spend their money and how to live their lives. Rutger admits he thought the same for a long time. But one day he accidentally stumbled upon a paper by some American psychologists. They run some IQ tests on Indian sugarcane farmers before and after the harvest. As a side note, sugarcane farmers collect 60% of their annual income all at once right after the harvest. So they are relatively rich one part of the year and poor the other. And the results of IQ tests discover mind-blowing results. Farmers before the harvest scored 16 points less than after the harvest. It turns out that people behave differently when they perceive a thing to be scarce. Some time later the narrator found out about another experiment in Dauphin, Canada in 1974. The people of this town were guaranteed a basic income: a monthly grand enough to pay for basic needs, namely, food, shelter, education. People in Dauphin have not only become richer, but smarter and healthier. The school performance of kids improved substantially. The hospitalization rate decreased. Domestic violence incidents were down, as were mental health complaints. People didn't quit their jobs. The only ones who worked a little less were new mother and students - who stayed in school longer. Part 2: https://www.italki.com/entry/887186