Impact of the Space Shuttle Program on the National Economy

ABSTRACT

An Input-Output model constructed ond operated at the University of Maryland was used by economists at North Americon Rockwell Corporation to measure and compare the economic impact of three lorge progroms of o notional scale. Compared were: (1) the Space Shuttle program; (2) a residential housing construction program; and (3) a progrom to increase personal consumption expenditures. For each program, the increase in production and employment in each sector of the economy and the effect upon the balance of trade were estimoted.

This study is considered an excellent example of cooperation between academic and industrial economists in presenting relevant comparisons to aid the policy formulation ond decision making processes.

The aggregate impact upon production and employment was quite similar for the three programs, but these impacts were distributed differently throughout the various sectors of the economy. Input-Output multipliers were found to be 2.1 for the Space Shuttle, 1.7 for housing construction, and 2.0for personal consumption. It was concluded that an aerospace program such as the Space Shuttle would be at least as good o stimulus to the economy as other types of programs.