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A major legal reform of Chilean environmental institutions was approved in November 2009, at the end of Michelle Bachelet's administration. In sharp contrast with the external pressures that provided the impetus for the establishment of the country's environmental institutions in the early 1990s, this time the driving forces came mainly from an "internal demand," a broad social and political consensus about the need to improve the environmental framework. This consensus was a consequence of the institutional breakdown revealed by a local movement that emerged in Valdivia, southern Chile, in response to a major ecological disaster produced by the effluents of a pulp mill that polluted a protected wetland and caused the death and migration of an endangered population of black-necked swans. Although the Valdivian movement did not succeed in stopping the disaster and restoring the wetland, it triggered an unprecedented examination of the performance of environmental institutions, finally forcing the 2009 environmental reform. The resonance of the Valdivian movement can be understood in the context of dozens of environmental conflicts that had been accumulating for more than a decade, largely as an effect of the crisis of legitimacy of environmental institutions. Although this recently approved legislation represented an overall advance, it failed to address the issues that led to the institutional breakdown, in particular the need for democratization of decision making and the broadening of public participation. Paradoxically, thus, the reform perpetuated the crisis of legitimacy that underlay its origin, reinforcing the exclusionary mechanisms that largely explain socio-environmental unrest and ecological destruction in Chile. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Inc., copyright holder.]

The Annual World Bank Conference on Development Economics 2011: Development Challenges in a Post-crisis World (ABCDE) presents papers from a global gathering of the world's leading development scholars and practitioners held May 31 - June 2, 2010. Paper themes include: Environmental Commons and the Green Economy, Post-crisis Development Strategy, the Political Economy of Fragile States, Measuring Welfare, and Social Programs and Transfers.Keynote addresses:Elinor Ostrom: Overcoming the Samaritan's Dlimemma in Development Aid --Torsten Persson: Weak States, Strong States, and Development --Joseph Stiglitz: Learning, Growth, and Development --Partha Dasgupta: Poverty Traps --.

We live in troubled times. Over the past decade, the world economy has been wracked by financial crises, sovereign debt problems, backlash from political conflict and migrant crises, and, recently, a rise in xenophobia and protectionism. These issues raise major questions about the state of the world and also about the ability of economics to take on such challenges. Are these many economic and political crises and flare-ups symptoms of some deeper, underlying issues? Is economics as a discipline failing us at this time of soul searching? These are the questions that many are asking and that prompted the conference at the World Bank on which this book is based. We decided to bring in some of the finest minds in the profession—economists who have shaped modern economics—to ponder the state of the field and the state of the world in a series of papers. The conference consisted of 2 days of deliberation: The papers were presented, a distinguished group of economists commented on the presentations, and a large audience engaged with them in conversation and debate. This book is the outcome of these 2 days of deliberation.

This volume presents papers from a global gathering of the world's leading development scholars and practitioners held May 31 - June 2, 2010. Paper themes include: Environmental Commons and the Green Economy, Post-crisis Development Strategy, the Political Economy of Fragile States, Measuring Welfare, and Social Programs and Transfers. Keynote addresses: Elinor Ostrom: Overcoming the Samaritan's Dlimemma in Development Aid -- Torsten Persson: Weak States, Strong States, and Development -- Joseph Stiglitz: Learning, Growth, and Development -- Partha Dasgupta: Poverty Traps

The Korea-World Bank High Level Conference on Post-Crisis Growth and Development, held in June 2010, in Busan, Republic of Korea, successfully brought key development issues to the forefront, laid the groundwork for setting global development priorities, and advanced the discussion among the international community, the G20, and the non-G20 countries on development policy. This volume compiles the papers and proceedings presented at this conference, which was attended by a mix of delegations from international organizations, high-level government officials, and eminent academics and practitioners. The conference covered a number of areas that are critical to the global development agenda and central to the G20's mandate to foster "strong, sustainable, and balanced growth."The topics covered in the volume include both broad themes and specific sectors. The cross-cutting papers include: the emergence of multipolar growth in the post-crisis period led by structural reforms and rebalancing growth; an analysis of Korea's development experience that draws lessons on how to transform from a low-income country to an advanced economy in one generation; and the impact of the global crisis on achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 and regaining momentum toward their completion. The sectoral papers include: promoting aid for trade, specifically in resisting protectionism and recommitting to the Doha agenda; supporting infrastructure and sustainable development; ensuring agriculture and food security; and advancing inclusive finance. The volume makes a strong case for integrating development into the G20 agenda and the need to bring non-G20 developing countries on board to ensure their participation in the global recovery and sustained growth and to enhance the legitimacy and credibility of the G20 process.