Considerations on Fiscal Policy in the Space Economy

Abstract: The development of technology has observed a convergence towards economic activities based on highly sophisticated operations from space. Telecommunications, geolocation, logistics, banking operations among other activities, not to mention military activities, are increasingly having components and processes based on space. This exploratory work is a study on space technology in general, with a focus on the design of fiscal policies suitable for economic development, therefore, we do not focus on space applications for technological or scientific developments. We present the considerations to answer the question of how fiscal policy can make it possible for a country, a state, a region or a city, to enter the space economy as an active actor and to boost its economic development on benefit of the population. We recognize that space science and technology have already been beneficial to humanity with cases such as weather predictions, mapping of the earth's crust, etc. However, many socio-economic operations are currently based on processes that depend on space technology (telecommunications, geolocation among others), so that an appropriate policy will have to be defined to be able to conveniently channel economic development. We make an exhibition of the commercial activities in the space, the main suppliers and the dynamics of consumption of the different services that we identify. Faced with a new and little explored economic environment, our conclusions serve as the basis for future research in this field.

Key words: space economy; space industry; fiscal policy; economic development

JEL codes: E61, E62, F00, O11