The Hidden Globe

Luxembourg’s investment in space exploration relates to the nation’s history of using its flexible legal system to attract business. The chapter opens with a Luxembourg delegation to a company called Planetary Resources in Seattle, Washington. The delegation, which included the grand duke of Luxembourg and his wife, was representing Luxembourg’s support for the start-up’s aims to “expand the economy into space” (159). Interest in exploiting space resources, particularly minerals and metals, has increased in the 21st century, creating a new arena for financial speculation. The Luxembourg government hopes to get in on the ground floor of this new potential market through investment in education, legal frameworks, and the creation of new institutions like the European Space Resources Innovation Center (ESRIC). In 2017, they passed the Space Resources Act that that gives companies based in Luxembourg rights to any materials they find in outer space.

Abrahamian provides a summary of Luxembourg’s history in financial and technological innovation. In the 1920s, it was the first European country to license its radio service to private companies. In 1929, it passed a law that holding companies did not have to pay corporate taxes, resulting in thousands of companies incorporating there. Luxembourg was also a leader in the tax-free holding and transfer of the interest of Eurobonds, a financial instrument that allowed companies to lend and borrow money in US dollars without Federal Reserve oversight.