One thing which would help is to cut off all teleports from Alpha 1 -> Alpha 2, and all teleports from Alpha 1 & Alpha 2 -> Beta 2.
Thus, the old Beta 1 islands would become "crossroads" of sorts, it would become necessary to go through B1 to get to B2, and to go through B1 to get to A2.
I don't think the issue is in the population, or the alpha vs beta ratios (imho, alpha2 is still too mineral-rich with 0 risk, observers are a joke that ignore stationary targets). The issue is in the umbrella of teleports which have absolutely NO bottlenecks or forced routes.
Gradually it could be extrapolated that "Gamma/Beta 3" islands would only be accessible through Beta 2 islands, etc. Thus, protection would become a premium, industrials would have a reason to contract mercenary corporations for convoy protection; over time industrials would band together to move their goods in one go to cut the merc-escort costs, and naturally this would draw the lawless element to the party even more.
Right now:
1. You can live & mine on Alpha 2 in complete safety. (again, observers are a joke that ignore stationary targets so dont mention them as "unsafe", they're only unsafe to nubs).
2. You can reach ANY Beta island from pretty much anywhere in the world, with minimal exposure to Beta travel-risks.
3. There is no reason to live on Beta because if you want, you can get there in 5 minutes, spend 2 hours doing your stuff, extract your goods in 5 minutes. The "risk" is that someone might spot you doing your stuff and get a group together to get there and stop you from leaving/docking in... 5 minutes? Yeah right.
I mean, Beta 2 is BETTER then Beta 1. In the future, Beta 3 or Beta X or whatever you call it, is going to be BETTER then Beta 2. If all of the Beta's, Gamma's, whatever can be reached from Alpha; what is the point in anyone holding the old islands? There's no negotiations to be done, no military escort to provide, no bribes handed off to grease gate guards, no targets for piracy.
It results in what we have now = 2/3 Beta 2 islands being owned, 1/3 Beta 1 island being a warzone, and generally 4/6 Beta islands being empty wastelands. Because there is no incentive to own them, if you can't get a Beta 2 you might as well not bother.
The mentality of "if I mine a sequer of Epri I win" is another dilemma, most of the corps won't risk more then a termis and a sequer on mining because its all they can afford to lose. They're probably proud of building 10-30 mechs a week too.
For those who were around during that time, our mining fleets on "Domsomalia" were 5x times in size that most corps put out TODAY, and "Domsomalia" was almost 6-7 months ago!
That mentality dilemma will never be solved, some people risk what they feel they can afford to lose; others will risk everything they have for maximum efficiency and maximum gain.