STARLINK

A letter signed by over 100 researchers and released in October urges the FCC to place a pause on the deployment of SpaceX’s Starlink satellites, citing environmental concerns over some projections that the company may launch 58,000 additional satellites into low orbit by 2030. Launched in 2015 by Elon Musk, the high-speed space internet project Starlink has become key in the United States’ strategic planning for space. The FCC currently exempts all telecommunication projects from facing formal environmental review.

A 2024 paper by YAN JIAJIE and YU NANPING—originally published in the Journal of International Security Studies (国际安全研究) and republished by the Center for Strategic and International Studies’s new translation project—examines the proliferation of Starlink satellites over the past decade:

“In 2015, Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) launched a high-speed space internet project called Starlink, which has become a key step in the implementation of the United States’ strategic planning for space in the new era. As a product of the new technological revolution, the US Starlink project has many advanced technology advantages and a broad application market and commercial space. Its goal is to establish a global satellite internet communication system dominated by US technology, and it will have significant impacts and effects on existing global 5G communication technology and future space-based internet systems. At present, the project has already carried out in-depth cooperation with the US military and frequently launched satellites, aggressively seizing near-Earth orbit space spectrum resources. If the project is successfully implemented, not only will there be a problem of outer space resources being forcefully expropriated by US technology, but it will also have a great impact on the low-orbit satellite internet production chain and other technology industry value chains. Starlink’s impact on astronomical observation activities and disaster prevention may also be international in nature. The new threats that Starlink’s commercial operations pose to the information security, data security, and military security of other countries are real and unavoidable.”

+  “The military utility of low earth orbit satellites has become increasingly apparent to China’s leaders. They have seen in the Ukraine war how Starlink technology has provided decisive advantages on the battlefield.” By Steven Feldstein. Link. And see Tom Phillips and and Dan Milmo on Starlink’s almost complete dominance of the Amazon’s satellite internet market. Link.

+  “Not only should private companies be subject to the procedures of an international licensing system for outer space, but royalties can be paid to the licensing system so other countries can still benefit from space resources.” By Yuree Nam. Link. And see a 2024 schematic overview of national regulatory frameworks for space activities, as well as a compendium of international space debris mitigation standards. Link, link.

+  “Although SpaceX has won multibillion-dollar contracts under Biden, it has also sparred with a multitude of federal and state authorities.” By Alex Rogers, Stephen Morris, and Kana Inagaki. Link. And see reporting on how past government efficiency commissions may inform Elon Musk’s potential spearheading of such a commission under Trump. Link, link.

NEW RESEARCHERS

Baby Boom

HENRY DOWNES is a PhD candidate in the Economics Department at the University of Notre Dame. In a 2024 paper, he uses evidence from the enactment of the 1935 National Labor Relations Act to estimate the place level effect of union growth on fertility outcomes, and finds that unionization can account for approximately 20 percent of overall fertility increases during the Baby Boom.

From the paper:

“At the same that unions were making historic gains in the years following the passage of the National Labor Relatins Act, American families were getting bigger. After decades of declining fertility, birth rates grew by more than 50 percent during the mid-20th century. This “Baby Boom” was a demographic event unlike any other in modern American history, with economic and social aftershocks that are still felt today. Officially, the U.S. Baby Boom is dated as occurring between 1946 and 1964 (Colby and Ortman, 2014). This convention reflects the commonly held belief that fertility increases resulted from the end of World War II and the subsequent postwar economic expansion. While postwar changes in fertility are an important part of the Baby Boom story, they do not tell the full story. In fact, birth rates began to increase in the late 1930s and continued to climb throughout the war. The US Baby Boom was also unusually large and long lasting. Today, the fundamental causes of the Baby Boom remain “one of the 20th century’s great puzzles” (Bailey and Collins, 2011).”

+++

+  “In each of the 11 countries we study, we found that a majority of politicians belong to a latent class that we call “democratic realism”—a thin, minimalist, relatively pessimistic view of voters’ capacities.” By Jack Lucas et al. Link. Also see Daniel Galvin and Chloe Thurston on the limits of policy feedback as a party-building tool. Link. See Ilyana Kuziemko, Nicolas Longuet-Marx, and Suresh Naidu on changes in the democratic party’s voter base. Link.

+  “US plans for the IMEC (India Middle East-Europe Corridor) and I2U2 (a military partnership with Israel, India, and the UAE) are intended to bolster India as a competitor to China.” Laleh Khalili reviews The Contest for the Indian Ocean and the Making of a New World Order by Darshana M. Baruah. Link.

+  “As president of the UN’s twenty-ninth flagship climate “Conference of the Parties” (COP29), to be hosted in Baku in November 2024, Azerbaijan will need to shepherd nearly 200 other governments towards common positions in highly contentious negotiations.” By Ruth Townend et al. Link.

+  See an interview with Ahmed Kaballo, CEO of the popular pan-African social media platform, African Stream, which was banned from Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube after Anthony Blinken made unsubstantiated claims that the platform was run by the state-funded media outlet, Russia Today. Link.

+  A new ILO working paper examines the impact of social protection benefits in reducing income inequality, with contributory pensions being identified as having the largest impact on reducing inequality. Link.

+  “Uganda’s oil industry is steadily shaping up into a fully established economic sector. It is imperative that Uganda lays domestic foundations for resource governance, to navigate the challenges that come with oil extraction.” By Paddy Kinyera. Link.

+  “We conjecture that the type of human capital in China through engineering and vocational education helped develop its manufacturing sector. Utilizing micro-survey data since the 1980s, we show that education expansion has been an inequality enhancer in India.” By Nitin Kumar Bharti and Li Yang. Link.

+  “It is time to imagine a revitalized administrative state that recognizes accountability may also require—or demand—efforts to build countervailing power and administrative power while disciplining corporate power.” By Amy Kapczynski. Link.

+  “The economist who first and most directly engaged a political and ideological battle against the workers’ discourse was Henry Charles Carey from Philadelphia. A former publisher who would become the most influential nineteenth-century US protectionist, Carey endeavored to disprove the vision of class fostered by workers. Carey’s stated goal was to counter the workers’ “errors” that were fueling “a warfare between producers and non-producers.” The first and most crucial error, in his perspective, was the journeymen’s restrictive definition of “productive labor” and of the “productive classes,” which they limited “to those who actually make something out of something tangible.” On the contrary, he argued, all those who participated to production in any form could be said to contribute to it, since there could be “productions and producers of many sorts,” creating something “more or less tangible, or drawn from intellectual objects.” A second related error, Carey continued, was the idea that only the so-called concrete “producers” could be considered essential to society. Instead, in his perspective, “every work whether manual, mental, or active” had to be considered “useful to society” and entitled “to a reward proportionate to the extent and durability of its utility,” as well as to the level of “skill” it involved.” By Matteo M. Rossi. Link.

Each week we highlight research from a graduate student, postdoc, or early-career professor. Send us recommendations: editorial@jainfamilyinstitute.org