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Odd Lots · Bloomberg

Why NASA Hired a Chief Economist

March 31, 2026·49 min·4 clips
What does NASA's first chief economist actually do, and why did the agency create such a role?
Start with the party question. It sounds like a throwaway, and Odd Lots lets it stay funny for a beat, because Joe is very much in favor of asking it. Then the premise opens up. If NASA has an economist, what is that person doing all day, and what does that say about the agency? The answer is not just moon-shot romance. NASA comes across as a sprawling public machine with exploration, earth science, aeronautics, and private partnerships all jammed into one mandate. The solar system part still lands. The guest talks about water geysers, an aperture for studying what might be in that water, and Titan, where the lakes are methane instead of water. Dragonfly gives the conversation its shiny object: a robotic helicopter mission to Saturn's moon. But the episode does not stay in gee-whiz mode. It keeps asking what public investment is supposed to buy. That question gets harder once NASA is also employing a huge number of earth scientists, supplying climate data people rely on, and funding basic aeronautics work, including green and electric aviation. So, okay, why an economist? Because once all of that sits under one roof, the tax-dollar question is not academic. Someone has to think about stretch, tradeoffs, and whether partnerships pull in private money or just route public money through another door. Joe can still be excited about the moon or Mars. The Odd Lots move is asking what that excitement costs, what it teaches, and who gets value from it.

As heard by us

A sharp look at NASA as a public institution, not just a space program.

Odd Lots treats NASA less like a space saga and more like a public agency with a wide mandate and a constant pressure to stretch tax dollars. It starts with some party banter, then gets into public investment, private capital, and the harder question of whether space spending…

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Why you'd press play

Why NASA hiring an economist changes how you think about space spending.

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