Throughout the book, Anderson emphasizes the impact of poverty on the possibilities for hope for inner-city families. Often alienated from the structures and institutions in mainstream society, these families find themselves stuck within generational cycles of poverty, which in turn generates desperation and even despair. Economic prosperity and narratives about the American Dream, therefore, become an illusion. These generational cycles of poverty often push people toward the underground economy, which often consists of drug deals and sex work. According to Anderson, when the underground economy prevails over mainstream (and legal) means of revenue and economic growth, urban poverty becomes persistent. Persistent poverty is therefore not the byproduct of individual or even familial choices, but the result of systemic structures that prevent sustainable economic prosperity for inner-city families.

As poverty persists and desperation increases, young people turn away from being law-abiding, value-driven citizens in an effort to survive. Those who can escape the poverty associated with the lower rungs of the underground economy often do, moving out of the neighborhood in search of new opportunities and environments. According to Anderson, “this exodus further demoralizes neighborhood residents and makes them more vulnerable to a number of ills, including rising drug use and teenage pregnancy” (145).