Unlimited Wealth: The Theory and Practice of Economic Alchemy

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. (Jan.)