About the Book

About Broke and Angry in America by Shiva Maharaj, Nick Polson, and Vadim Sokolov. The argument, the authors, and press information.

The Argument

Unlike standard treatments of inequality, Broke and Angry in America refuses to separate economics from emotion. It moves from Ricardo’s law of rent to J.K. Rowling’s account of counting coins on welfare in Edinburgh, from the Arnott-Stiglitz theorem to the digital nomad repricing Lisbon, from the welfare trap to the shame-anger cycle that has become an electoral resource on both sides of the political spectrum.

Eleven chapters build toward a practical agenda: land value taxation, upzoning and housing reform, platform revenue levies, portable benefits for gig workers, mortgage underwriting reform, the reduction of taxes on labor, credential reform, and carbon pricing. None of these proposals are radical. All of them are resisted by the interests Henry George identified in 1879.

The broke and angry are right that something has been done to them. This book explains what it is, who benefits, and what would actually fix it.

The Authors

Shiva Maharaj is a researcher in mathematical finance and inequality. Her work applies quantitative methods to questions of economic justice and structural disadvantage.

Nick Polson is a professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He is the author of AIQ: How Artificial Intelligence Works and How We Can Harness Its Power for a Better World and has written extensively on statistical modeling and economic systems.

Vadim Sokolov is a professor of systems engineering at George Mason University. His research spans machine learning, transportation systems, and computational social science.

For the Press

Broke and Angry in America: A Story of Inequality, Rage & the American Dream is available March 2026.

For review copies, interviews, or press inquiries, please contact the authors.