I disagree with this necessarily being an attempt to inject an urban hobby horse into a discussion on poverty. I have lived in compact towns where the main reas

I disagree with this necessarily being an attempt to inject an urban hobby horse into a discussion on poverty. I have lived in compact towns where the main reason to own a vehicle was to service neighbouring industries (agriculture, forestry, petrochemical). Everything within town was within walking distance. Contrast that to the suburbs of larger cities, where it may be difficult to find a single employer within walking distance. I recognize those towns are not universal. Then again, the situation of your wife's family is not universal either. Which is the crux of the problem with discussions such as this one: people like to reach for generalities that reflect their own life experiences or observations, when the reality is that those perspectives represents a narrow worldview. Heck, even the people who study poverty for a living cannot come up with a consistent narrative (as demonstrated by the opening paragraphs of the article) since it will be influenced by the questions they ask and how they conduct their research.