The purview of the cause of poverty is too wide to answer. Some will say it's affected by environmental factors like, the government, geographical location, education etc. but in line with that is the fact that sometimes poverty becomes a choice.
It also is sometimes depends on someone's perspective of what poverty really means, for some poverty means the lack of basic needs, but "basic" can be identified too many different ways in order for you to really get what they mean by it.
I, for one, experienced not eating 3 times a day, and have experienced having plenty-- but still felt poor.
What causes poverty is the social norm, of what is rich, who is poor, and what is needed to survive in our planet. People tend to be on this race of being on the top all the time without thinking of it's effect to others around them. You will see multi billion mining companies beside a very poor community. High rise condominiums within the slumps of an over crowded city- how Ironic is that.
What causes poverty is people and what fixes it- is still us.