there are a few really good proposals for lunar economy. pulling glass for zblan fiber works better in micro g than here on earth. many theorize that low g on

there are a few really good proposals for lunar economy. pulling glass for zblan fiber works better in micro g than here on earth. many theorize that low g on moon would also result in a higher quality product than we can make here in earth, and this quality of fiber is very expensive currently up to 1000+ epr meter, if it becomes trivial to make it on the moon, the moon very well could provide all of the manufacturing for the fiber optics here on earth. there is the helium3 mining argument. although I'm not sure of demand. it is cheaper to supply LEO from the moon than it is from earth. mining water, growing food, manufacturing rocket fuel, are all possible on the moon, and are a product for Leo space stations. nasa alone payss >6bil a year to resupply the ISS, that's not including Russia, esa, jaxa, etc. not all of these resupplies can be replaced by the moon, but a large portion of them do contain food, and basic products that theoretically could be manufactured on the moon. mining various minerals on the moon like aluminum may be more expensive, especially at first. but how do you quantify the habitat destruction? regulations may force earth mining into oblivion and make moon a reasonable alternative. not likely to happen, but maybe it should. as you stated tourism probably will be popular IF you can make it affordable to the middle class. low g research as a service is also a good revenue model. many people pay good money to have their experiments performed in micro g, it's very reasonable to assume the same will be true for lunar g. also, all moon/mars bases put a HEAAAAVY emphasis on Insitu resource utilization. early moon bases will be expensive and very likely a net loss. but almost every single plan I see around basically says "step 1. get there. step 2. achieve self sufficiency asap except for complex manufactured goods" things like water, food, air, fuel, building materials, bio plastics, paper products, basic manufacturing/cnc/printing of tools and replacement parts. most thing short of chip production panel production and super complex manufactured goods are very achievable, and will theoretically mean that 10 years after moon base alpha, very few resupplies are needed