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The cover of Poverty, by America

Poverty, by America

Matthew Desmond, 2023

See how American poverty is sustained by exploitation, hidden affluent subsidies, and exclusion, then learn the reforms and collective power needed to abolish it.

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11 parts, about 18 minutes to read.

Why read it

  • Argues that American poverty persists because comfortable households benefit from it, through cheap labor, rents and fees
  • Shows that affluent families receive more hidden government support than the poor, through tax breaks and homeowner subsidies
  • Moves from fieldwork with renters and workers to concrete remedies: lift the floor, expand choice, end exclusionary zoning

Who it is for

  • Homeowners who never questioned local zoning rules
  • Voters weighing wage, housing and tax policy
  • Readers who believe welfare breeds dependency

What the summary covers

  1. Abundance Beside Deprivation1 min
  2. What Poverty Takes1 min
  3. Why Progress Stalled2 min
  4. How Work Is Made Cheap2 min
  5. Paying More Because You Have Less2 min
  6. Who Really Relies on Welfare2 min
  7. Buying and Hoarding Opportunity1 min
  8. First, Lift the Floor2 min
  9. Second, Expand Real Choice2 min
  10. Third, Tear Down the Walls2 min
  11. A Movement for Abolition1 min

Recommended by

  • Roxane GayAuthor of Bad Feminist and Difficult Women
    A powerful polemic, one that has expanded and deepened my understanding of American poverty. Desmond approaches the subject with a refreshing candidness and directs his ire toward all the right places.
  • Roxane GayAuthor of Bad Feminist and Difficult Women
    A powerful polemic, one that has expanded and deepened my understanding of American poverty. Desmond approaches the subject with a refreshing candidness and directs his ire toward all the right places.

About the author

  • Matthew DesmondPrinceton sociology professor and MacArthur Fellow
    • Volunteered with Habitat for Humanity in Tempe as an Arizona State University undergraduate
    • Graduated from Arizona State University in 2002 with a B.S. with highest honors in communications and justice studies
    • Ph.D. in Community and Environmental Sociology from the University of Wisconsin Madison, 2010
    • After the Ph.D. he joined the Harvard Society of Fellows as a Junior Fellow
    • Formerly John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Social Sciences at Harvard
    • Maurice P. During Professor of Sociology at Princeton and principal investigator of the Eviction Lab
    • Elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2022

Read it alongside

  • Pushes backFree to Choose

    Matthew Desmond calls for raising the minimum wage and protecting organizing so low paid workers have real choices; Milton and Rose Friedman argue that the minimum wage makes employers discriminate against the low skilled, that union gains come at other workers' expense, and that competition among many employers is the least bad protection for most workers.

  • Goes deeperThe Color of Law

    Matthew Desmond describes the racial wealth gap and zoning that lets affluent families hoard opportunity; Richard Rothstein argues that government policy suppressed Black incomes and blocked access to suburban homes, producing a good portion of that gap.

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