Alexander Macdonald

Alexander MacDonald is the Chief Economist at NASA. He was previously the Program Executive for the International Space Station National Laboratory, the Senior Economic Advisor in the Office of the Administrator and was the founding program executive of NASA's Emerging Space Office within the Chief Technologist Office. Macdonald is also the author and editor of a number of NASA reports. His book The Long Space Age: The Economic Origins of Space Exploration from Colonial America to the Cold War was published in 2017.

Photo Credits: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani

Matthew Weinzierl

Matt Weinzierl is the Joseph and Jacqueline Elbling Professor of Business Administration in the Business, Government and the International Economy Unit at Harvard Business School and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Recently, he has launched a set of research projects focused on the commercialization of the space sector and its economic implications, viewable at www.economicsofspace.com.

Prior to completing his PhD in economics at Harvard University in 2008, Professor Weinzierl served as the Staff Economist for Macroeconomics on the President’s Council of Economic Advisers and worked in the New York office of McKinsey & Company.