Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Pilzer's upbeat, jargon-coining manual is a mix of questionable assertions, glib pop economic analysis and sweeping proposals, some on-target. His "theory of alchemy" holds that we live in a world of unlimited economic resources, circumscribed only by our inability to take advantage of the best technology available for a given production problem. "Alchemists" devise new goods or new services, orchestrating change and exploiting technological gaps. The author, adjunct professor of finance at New York University, has served as an adviser to the Reagan and Bush administrations. His proposals for a restructuring of public and private education (including government tuition grants to every child) and for a national child-care program seem at once far-reaching and impractical. He also recommends a flexible immigration policy that would admit up to three million additional immigrants yearly to fill "a critical shortage of labor." Equally controversial is his analysis of a Japan that he sees heading toward economic disaster.

Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

The coauthor of Other People's Money ( LJ 11/15/89), a history of the savings and loan industry, here turns his attention to more general economic questions. Standing traditional economics on its head, Pilzer argues that the true problem is not lack of resources but lack of demand. Technology has abolished resource scarcity, he asserts, and become the driving force shaping demand, economic wealth, and progress. He discusses the impact of this development on education, immigration, and the U.S. relationship with Japan. Ultimately the book is not so much a direct challenge to current economic thinking as a call for a change in emphasis. Useful for large libraries seeking complete collections.

- Richard C. Schiming, Mankato State Univ., Minn.

Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Description

Modern technology is transforming our most basic ideas about the creation of wealth. This book reveals how a new way of economic thinking is essential for success in today's world.

From the Inside Flap

Modern technology is transforming our most basic ideas about the creation of wealth. This book reveals how a new way of economic thinking is essential for success in today's world.