The High Frontier: Human Colonies in Space: Apogee Books Space Series 12 cover
The High Frontier: Human Colonies in Space: Apogee Books Space Series 12
by Gerard K. O'Neill, David Gump, Space Studies Institute, Space Frontier Foundation
ISBN: 189652267X
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0xffff2 · 2016-09-12 · Original thread
For some more concrete reading, try The High Frontier by Gerard O'Neill[1]. He makes the opposite case; arguing that orbital habitats could have a net positive economic return in fairly short order.

[1]: https://www.amazon.com/High-Frontier-Human-Colonies-Apogee/d...