SPACE AGED DRIVERS
In the medium term, global issues - such as population changes, critical or limited natural resources, and environmental damages – and technological innovations are the main drivers for the evolution of the space economy beyond Earth orbit. Its historical part helps to better understand motivations and constraints - technical, political, and economical - that shaped the growth of the space economy. It studies processes that transform the economy through the interactions among diverse economic agents, governments, and the extra-systemic environment in which governments operate. This book brings all these aspects together following the evolutionary theory of economic change. In the literature, the space economy has been analyzed using different approaches from science and technology to the effects of public expenditures on economic growth and to medium term effects on productivity and growth.
The book thus draws from many different academic areas such as physical science, astronomy, astronautics, political science, economics, sociology, cultural studies, and history. The realization of the possible depends on economic, institutional, and political factors. Science and technology define the boundaries of what is possible. It adopts an interdisciplinary approach to answer those questions. This book provides answers to the questions of why human-kind should go into space, and on the relative roles of governments and markets in the evolution of the space economy. Vice president of ISPI (Institute for the Studies of International Politics), Italy for some natural resources) that today look very difficult to cope with.Įmeritus professor Policy Analysis and Public Management, Bocconi University, Italy Even more than in similar breakthrough cases, those who engage in the related activities will benefit from a considerable advantage in tackling the economic challenges of the coming years.Īt the same time, this book provides, through a fascinating reading, the possibility to jump into the (near) future and to imagine feasible solutions to many of the problems (e.g. It provides the basis to understand better an area of scientific and technological research as well as of economic initiatives which are receiving growing interest both at the academic and at the practical level, and which will inevitably see a booming of its importance in the coming years. It can be used for postgraduate courses in space economy.ĭirector of the Aerospace Department at the Polytechnic University of Turin, ItalyĪndrea Sommariva's book on the Political Economy of the Space Age is, first of all, a thoroughly researched account of the history and evolution of a field of theoretical and practical engagement which will shape the future of Human Society, as the title rightly states. I find the book quite innovative and interesting. A very strong point is the fact that is much open to the future, dealing not only with Mars exploration but also with the exploration of extrasolar planets, while most of the works dealing with space economy usually stop to LEO commercialization and the most advanced topics they deal with is related to the Moon or the asteroids. The author is very well qualified and his writing is quite involving. This contains much novelty, since most other books on the history of astronautics touch on the economic aspects only marginally. The book contains a story of space exploration, from the economical viewpoint.
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