New Space Capitalism

Rainer Zitelmann has doctorates in history and sociology. He has authored and edited thirty-one books that have been translated into thirty-five languages. His books include In Defense of Capitalism, The Power of Capitalism, and How Nations Escape Poverty. In recent years, he has written articles and been the subject of interviews in media such as Wall Street Journal, Fox News, Newsweek, Forbes, Washington Examiner, National Interest, Financial Times, City AM, The Daily Telegraph, The Times, Le Monde, Corriere della Sera, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, and numerous media outlets in Latin America and Asia. He regularly contributes specialist articles to Economic Affairs.

“. . . this is a well-timed and fascinating read. The author argues that commercial expansion into space, from asteroid mining to colonising Mars, is important for ongoing human progress and economic growth, back on Earth. But, he contends, to do this well governments ought to step back and allow private companies and competition to unlock innovation. He says this can only occur when it is possible to own, buy, and sell land on other celestial bodies. . . . Zitelmann strikingly compares and contrasts the history of space exploration through public missions and private enterprise. His book is an insightful must-read for those intrigued by mankind’s next giant leap.”—Financial Times“Rainer Zitelmann has made a major contribution toward thinking about the future of humans in space. His new book, New Space Capitalism, is a very important and comprehensive look at the next great breakthrough we need if the momentum of human development in space is going to reach its fullest potential. . . . Zitelmann understands that these developments create the possibility for an entire new economy in space and that new economy will require a new legal structure. . . . Zitelmann has outlined many of the challenges and opportunities and New Space Capitalism is an important contribution to where we need to go to develop a better future.” —Newt Gingrich, 50th speaker of the United States House of Representatives “Market forces are revolutionizing space and the space economy, and Rainer Zitelmann’s sweeping new book stands out from the crowd in unapologetically making the case for keeping capitalism at the core of our spacefaring future. A must-read for anyone interested in the economics of space and humanity’s exploration of it.”   —Matthew Weinzierl, professor of business administration and space expert at Harvard Business School  “Countering the pessimism that afflicts many analysts today, Dr. Rainer Zitelmann shines a bold and optimistic light on an emerging industry that promises to transform the future of mankind. His New Space Capitalism explores how private entrepreneurial activity is emerging as the force that will take humanity back to the Moon, to Mars, and beyond. He shows how private property rights give the incentive for space exploration, tourism, and industrial development and space settlement. This is a thrilling and very timely look at how capitalism can take humanity into its next great leap.”—Madsen Pirie, president of the Adam Smith Institute, London“Rainer Zitelmann’s book New Space Capitalism is one of the most recent, compelling, and best illustrations of how the limitless expansion in the future of humankind depends on the final triumph of the anarcho-capitalist system, based on entrepreneurial creativity unblocked by bureaucratic apparatuses and the ideology of statism. In Zitelmann’s book, full of analytical insights from the Austrian School of Economics, you will find why space is not only ‘the last frontier’ of humanity, but also of human liberty.” —Jesús Huerta de Soto, professor of political economy, King Juan Carlos University, Madrid“A fantastic book! It tells us compellingly that space exploration is an entrepreneurial activity and thus can be done best by entrepreneurs like Elon Musk, instead of government agencies. Space capitalism is more cost-effective and innovative than space statism. It is the only way humanity will ever be able to colonize Mars or mine asteroids. What the space sector needs most is full-scale decisive deregulation and not more regulations.” —Weiying Zhang, professor of economics, Peking University “This book reports on the next major topic shaping the future of our economy. Using the example of private spaceflight, Zitelmann convincingly shows why entrepreneurship is superior to the often greatly overrated state-led industrial policy.” —Professor Hans-Werner Sinn, former president of the ifo Institute, Munich“The challenge of opening the space frontier can only be met by the full power of human creativity. Freedom will give us space. Space will give us freedom. Zitelmann is showing us the way.”—Dr. Robert Zubrin, president of the Mars Society“Property rights underpin capitalism here on Earth, and they will have to underpin it in space as well. Zitelmann’s book concludes with an outline of what such a system could look like, analogous to the ‘homesteading’ laws that were used for the settlement of the American West from the 1860s onwards. Science fiction? No—just good economics.”—Kristian Niemietz, editorial director at the Institute of Economic Affairs