Economic distribution is relatively equitable in Luxembourg. Among the industrial nations of the world, economic inequality increased in all but six nations over the past decade. During that period, there was no change in economic inequality in France; however, economic inequality decreased in five industrial nations · Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Spain (Faux, 2004).

From 1995 through 2003, Luxembourg recorded the greatest increase in total hours worked per year among industrial nations · 3.7 percent ("Economic and Financial Indicators", 2003). As mentioned earlier in this paper, the economy of Luxembourg depends heavily on the financial sector, in which banking activity is especially important (Osborn, 2001). One of the attractions of banking in Luxembourg (certainly not the only one) is the law protecting the confidentiality of personal and business accounts in the nation. In this regard, Luxembourg banking is comparable to Swiss banking ("The World's Piggybank", 2004). Private banking in Luxembourg is an important component of the nation's financial services industry. With respect to personal banking, Luxembourg is a part of the so-called off-sho

Osborn, A. (2001, April). Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker: Luxembourg, economy. Europe, 32-35.

Yen, J. (2004, April 12). A competitive edge. Forbes, 173(7), 171-174.

The European Union and the United States have been pressuring off-shore banking nations for years to relax their confidentiality laws so that they could gain access to information about banking transactions by their residents in the off-shore banking community. A primary target of this pressure has been Switzerland, which successfully resisted the pressure for years. In 2001, however, Switzerland agreed to provide information concerning the amount of interest that Swiss banks pay to foreign depositors. This information would allow the home nations of the depositors to tax the interest, and, should the depositors wish to contest the tax, they could provide additional information to the tax authorities in their home countries. Luxembourg demands and received the same agreement that the European Union and the United States extend to Switzerland. In practice, tax authorities in the European Union states concerned and in the United States will receive no information is their citizens deposit their funds in no-interest accounts (("The World's