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I guess it depends on how you look at it. If we're looking at what CAUSED poverty, then an exhaustive answer would require that we go all the way back in time and ascertain what has caused some people to not have enough resources for their sustenance.
This would mean, of course, that we have to go all the way back to the time when there was no such thing as "money" itself; to the time when man was living all by himself without knowing what is called "society". And what could cause poverty then would probably be that the available rsources wasn't enough for the man's subsistence, no matter how hard he tried. Or maybe he was too weak to tame his surroundings and whatnot.
But as time went on men started coming together to form tribes and communities and this made it easier in a way because due to the collective efforts man was able to tame his environment more than he would have done on his own, so this necessitated the need for exchange, since if a party had something another didnt and the other has something he wants all they had to do was exchange it. Trade by barter.
Now what could cause poverty then is perhaps the fact that some people or some tribes were just naturally at the disadvantage probably due to the environment they found themselves; perhaps yhey were at an ecological disadvantage due to unfavorable terrain, unfavorable weather and etc.
But at any rate back then resources were still way more balanced than they are now. Every tribe usually possesed something that the other would need and there was no need for opulence and extensible living back then, so things were pretty much simpler.
Then came money and imperialism.
Of course it should be said that resources are scarce and human wants are unlimited. This could have caused an adventurous person to leave his own place of abode and go seeking other places where the resources wouldn't be as scarce. Or it could be due to restlessness, at any rate men started migrating to other places looking for better means of living, and so civilizations began and they expanded and with this came more GREED.
The resources started getting concentrated in thehands of the few to the neglect of the many. And then land owning came into play, and men had to work for other men to survive. Lords and serfs. And then more artificial scarcity or resources. More monopoly. More inequality. And more poverty.
Fast forward to the present moment when everything is at full proportion. Africa for example is an example of one of the poorer continents on earth. And what could be the cause of Africa's poverty? The answer is definitely subjective and debatable, but nobody would argue that one of it is imperialism.
It is no secret that Africa was raped of a lot of her valuable economic resources by the Europeans in the nineteenth and twentieth century. And even more than her diamond and gold and natural resources, she was robbed of her human resources--her people who were sold as slaves to foreifn places. Which goes to show exactly how greed and imperialism can certainly be a cause of poverty.
And the funniest thing about this kind of cases is that they usually are a chain reaction waiting to happen. They only need a catalyst such as things mentioned above to initiate them and before you know it the domino effect begins and everything spirals out of control.
For example once the Europeans finished raping Africa and left things started going south. Things started getting harder, basic amenities such as electricity and water supply became harder, job then started getting scarce and almost impossible to get, which led to a conflict or another, which led to a civil war, which of course led to more and more poverty.
And finally another reason for poverty in places can be bad governance. Again I'll use Africa as an example. When the Europeans left and African countries gained their independence, most of the leaders turned out be really inept and clueless, so much so that the economy spiralled out of control right from under their noses.
And from then corruption took its place and it became a game of more GREED and who can take the largest share of the "national cake".
So there you have it, in my opinion some of the factors that caused and are causing poverty.
Curbing them, on the other hand, would not not be a very easy thing to do. Most times the causes have gone too deep and the VICIOUS CYCLE is in such a full motion. And then again there's that eternal question as to whether poverty can really be eradicated.
Knowing the factors that are causing them, however, is definitely the very first place to start. But how is one supposed to go back in time and fix all the problems that have been caused by imperialism and human GREED?
I suppose the thing we can do is look forward to the future and try to address these issues as much from the root as possible, and to realize as a matter of fact that it all starts with us as an individual.
It's easy to look around and criticise, it's much harder to look inward and do the same.
Cheers.