No I didn’t misunderstand.

I was agreeing with a little spin. Just sounding off.

I think you might have misread.

The whole point is that irrationality/”beliefs not in line with reality” increase your chances of suffering from a range of social pathologies, including crime and poverty.

So the article agrees with you that poverty/crime/self-destructive behavior is a symptom, not a root cause. According to the researchers, that root cause is irrationality (in a statistical sense — this is probably not a predictor on a case by case basis, as with most general theories).

I’ve always wondered about these assessments…

People say poverty creates crime and go about proving it with statistics.
Isn’t it possible that crime creates poverty? Don’t statistics prove that as well?

I’ve also read poverty increases the chance of single motherhood. But doesn’t single motherhood increase the chance of poverty?

If alleviating poverty cured social problems, then welfare/socialism should end these problems, but socialism appears to deepen the problems. IMHO poverty is a symptom of other problems, not the root cause.

Has aid to Africa ended famine, war, genocide, and poverty? No, it has increased. If we send more aid and it continues to increase, we conclude the problem is that we haven’t sent enough. Then we send more and get more of what we don’t want, because we are in a deep sense of denial about what causes poverty…
A lack of economic/personal freedom combined with a lack of self-discipline. The poor don’t need a handout, they need freedom, liberty, and responsibility.