Guests: John Batchelor, Dr. Matthew Weinzierl, Dr. David Livingston.  Topics:  Commercial space economics, inflation, interest rates and markets, student interest in commercial space, job growth in this sector  

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John Batchelor and I welcomed Dr. Matthew Weinzierl of Harvard School of Business and Economics to discuss the commercial space/NewSpace sector economic potential over the short term and for longer periods. We talked about inflation, constrained money and investment flows, market development, interest rates and taxes.  In addition, our guest mentioned Superheavy and Starship, John mentioned the decline for Astra and Virgin Galactic, then Matt suggested we were seeing the normalization of the commercial space industry.  Other topics included industry moving forward, pulling back and moving forward.  Spinoffs were mentioned as a possibility, especially with the big contractors such as Boeing separating their space business from other business.  The current business cycle was evaluated as was the same for longer terms.  At the end of our discussion, John asked our guest about his students and their impression/interest in commercial Space.  Matt explained the enthusiasm plus much more that you will want to hear.

Please post your comments/questions for this discussion on our blog for this show.

You can email Mr. Batchelor or Dr. Weinzierl through me at drspace@thespaceshow.com.  Our guest can be reached through his Harvard faculty page.