Paul Zane Pilzer

Economic viewpoints

Pilzer's 1991 book Unlimited Wealth criticized traditional economic theories as being based on scarcity: that the earth contains a fixed, limited supply of resources and the function of economics (i.e., capitalism, socialism, communism) is to best divide them up. "No wonder," said Pilzer in Unlimited Wealth, "they call economics the 'Dismal Science.'" In contrast, Pilzer offered a new theory called Economic Alchemy based on abundance: that the earth contains unlimited resources because of human ingenuity continually defining new resources and/or learning how to better obtain and use our existing resources. The central equation of Economic Alchemy is W = P x Tⁿ : Wealth = Physical Resources times Technology, and T (Technology) has an exponential multiplier effect on itself.

Pilzer began developing Economic Alchemy in 1975 as a graduate student at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania when he theologically could not accept his professor's views that God had created a world of growing population but limited resources. Over the next 15 years, he developed Economic Alchemy while working at Citibank (1976–1981), teaching at New York University (1979–2000) and serving as an appointed economic advisor in Ronald Reagan's Presidential Administration (1983–1988).

Pilzer published his theory of Economic Alchemy in Unlimited Wealth - The Theory and Practice of Economic Alchemy (Crown Publishers, 1990) and in God Wants You To Be Rich - Theology of Economics (Simon & Schuster, 1995, 1997, 2007).

Pilzer has also written about employment, U.S. health benefits, wellness and the sharing economy. In 1985, he testified before a United States congressional hearing and since then has promoted the idea that employees should have personal, portable health insurance coverage independent of their employment but funded pre-tax by their employer. In 1996, he began researching the bifurcation of America based on weight and health. From 1999-2014 wrote five books on the economics of obesity, health insurance, preventative medicine, and wellness.

Pilzer has been called the "father of Health Savings Accounts". In 2003, the front page of the Sunday New York Times referred to Pilzer as "the Reagan administration economist turned wellness guru."

Pilzer is currently researching what he calls The Sharing Revolution. "While the sharing economy is about using technology to halve the price of what you want to buy," says Pilzer, "the sharing revolution is about doubling the value of what you already own or are about to buy. Uber and Airbnb aren't just half the price of the services (taxis and hotels) they displace, to the consumer they are twice as valuable."

Personal life

Pilzer was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1954 to immigrant parents Miriam and Elias Pilzer. He graduated Paul D. Schreiber High School in Port Washington, New York in 1971. He married Lisa Dang Pilzer (formerly Lisa Dang) on January 17, 2000. They have four children and live in Park City, Utah. Pilzer helped start Temple Har Shalom in Park City in 1995 and functioned as a lay rabbi leading services until a full-time rabbi was hired in 2002.

Academics

Pilzer earned a BA in Journalism from Lehigh University in 1974 at age 20 and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1976. He was an Adjunct Professor at New York University (1979-2000) where he served as Chairman of the Department of Real Estate Finance. He received an honorary Doctorate in Public Service from Parker College (now Parker University) in 2004.

Pilzer served as Contributing Editor from 1979-1995 of Real Estate Review published by New York University and Real Estate Finance Journal published by Wharton Business School. He is the author of 16 academic articles. He has served as a Lecturer at Moscow State University in Russia (1985-1991), Peking University (2009), and University of Hong Kong (2013).

Banking industry

Pilzer was employed by Citibank (1976-1981) where he worked in EFT payment technology, government affairs and equity real estate investments. At Citibank he became an officer in 1976 and a vice president in 1980.

Real estate industry

In 1981, Pilzer co-founded Zane May Interests in Dallas, Texas. From 1981-1989, Zane May Interests developed 66 projects in the U.S. and the former USSR. GE Capital featured the company in 1989 in its monthly magazine, Financial Enterprise—The Magazine of GE Capital.

Education industry

Pilzer was a student-teacher in Computer Science from 1975-1976 at the University of Pennsylvania. His graduate thesis was the construction of an interactive teaching machine on a mainframe computer. He wrote on the cover of his thesis: "One day this technology will be used to affordably bring the best teacher of every subject to every student."

In 1989, Pilzer founded educational CD-ROM publisher Zane Publishing and served as its CEO and Publisher until the company became publicly listed in 1995 (NASD:ZANE).

In 2005, Pilzer co-founded The American Academy, an online high school serving high school dropouts in partnership with their local public high school. Pilzer served as President of The American Academy from 2005–2008.

In 2010, Pilzer founded Zane Prep, Inc. which distributes Zane Math and other STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) programs through Zaniac after-school learning centers. By 2016 Zane Prep had opened ten Zaniac Learning Center locations and Pilzer and the company were featured in national publications ranging from The Boston Globe to CNBC to U.S. News and World Report. Franchise Times magazine compared Pilzer to Elon Musk, and quoted Pilzer saying about Zaniac Instructors: “We don’t hire $40 an hour instructors and mark them up to $80,” he said, flatly. “We hire ivy league-bound future Nobel Prize winners.”

In 2016, Pilzer's lifetime commitment to improving education was honored by University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. On May 11, 2016 Pilzer gave a Keynote Address at the University of Pennsylvania entitled "Where's the Uber of Education Technology?"

Health benefits industry

In 1999, Pilzer founded Extend Health to distribute defined contribution portable individual health insurance policies through employers. On January 6, 2012, Extend Health filed an IPO but was acquired by Towers Watson for $435 million on May 29, 2012.

In 2006, Pilzer founded Zane Benefits, Inc. to offer defined contribution employer health benefits to U.S. employers through a Software-As-A-Service (SAAS) product called ZaneHealth. ZaneHealth allows small employers, brokers, and payroll suppliers to offer employees defined contribution health benefits through their own private health insurance exchanges. ZaneHealth helps employers transfer the health insurance risks of their employees to the federal government and has been the subject of front page articles in the The Wall Street Journal USA Today, and the New York Times.

Fitness industry

As reported in Club Business International magazine in 2008, Pilzer has criticized the fitness industry for catering mostly to fit individuals and missing the opportunity to serve a growing international obese population.

In 2008, Pilzer was a keynote speaker for Planet Fitness and in 2010, Pilzer's wife, Lisa Dang Pilzer, became an area developer franchisee for Planet Fitness in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Government service

In 1985, Pilzer testified before the U.S. Congress on the then-developing savings loan crisis.

Pilzer visited the former Soviet Union in 1969 as a high school chess player and lectured on economic issues at Moscow State University from 1983-1989. He attended the Moscow Summit (1988) between President Reagan and Premier Mikhail Gorbachev in 1988.

In 1989, Pilzer wrote Other People’s Money — The Inside Story of the S&L Mess (Simon and Schuster, 1989) which was reviewed in the The New York Review of Books by economist John Kenneth Galbraith and in The New York Times Book Review by Tony Solomon, former President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

In 1991, Pilzer was a candidate for the U.S. Congress in Texas' 3rd congressional district.

On August 24, 2008, Pilzer spoke in Jakarta, Indonesia at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium where he was introduced by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono

In 2009, Pilzer’s book The Wellness Revolution was published in China as The Fifth Wave. Pilzer addressed the Chinese nation on December 7, 2009 from the Center Podium in the Main Auditorium of the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, and on December 10, 2009 Pilzer spoke at Peking University.

In 2013, Pilzer was a lecturer at the University of Hong Kong on Social Entrepreneurship.

In 2014, Pilzer was a lecturer at Nanjing University and gave a lecture on the future of the Chinese economy to more than 10,000 Chinese business professionals in Nanjing, China.

Books and publications