Proceedings for the Second Symposium on Space Economy, Space Law and Space Sciences
The Relationship Between NASA Budget and Economic Growth: The Causality Approach
Mehmet Fırat Olgun, Yüksel BayraktarWith the launch of Sputnik in October 1957, space has become an industry that concerns the daily life of all people. Space is gaining new dimensions with its developing technology, its own legal system, economic values and international policies. The benefits provided by the technologies developing depending on space activities have led the space industry to gain importance in terms of country policies (İnce, 2020). The global space economy is estimated to be $370 billion in 2021. It is estimated that it will grow by 74% to reach $642 billion by 2030 (Euroconsult, 2022), and this value will reach $1 trillion in 2040 (Morgan Stanley, 2022).
Although the space sector is a sector with high returns, it has high entry barriers to the sector. Entry into the industry requires very high costs. Therefore, the support of the public sector is very important for the development of the sector (Bozkurt and Ercan, 2016). Countries usually exist in the sector by establishing their own space agencies. Because the importance of NASA in the development of the US space industry is an undeniable fact. NASA researches climate, sun, earth and more with 20 centers and facilities nationwide. NASA develops space technologies that will contribute to future exploration and improve human well-being. It also finances. NASA works with academia and the private sector to discover knowledge and contribute to science for the benefit of humanity (NASA, 2022a).
In this study, the effect of NASA’s budget on the US economic growth was examined. First of all, NASA budget and the distribution of the budget are given. In the second part, NASA’s contribution to the US economy is evaluated by considering the employment and economic output level, and the technology transfers made by NASA and the relevant literature are examined. In the empirical part of the study, the relationship between NASA budget and economic growth is discussed with the Toda-Yamamoto causality test. Finally, the empirical findings are evaluated and the conclusion part is given.
