The family is the primary transmitter of social capital – the values and character traits that enable people to seize opportunities. Family structure is a primary predictor of an individual's life chances, and family disintegration is the principal cause of the intergenerational transmission of poverty.

Column, March 21, 2014, " Paul Ryan was right – poverty is a cultural problem" at washingtonpost.com.

George F. Will: The left's half-century of denial over poverty - The Washington Post[washingtonpost.com]