Consisting of country case studies and comparative analyses from Latin American and US based political economists, this volume examines the recent history of foreign investment for development in Latin America in the context of the current backlash against 'Washington Consensus' policies. These essays form the broad conclusion that foreign direct investment fell far short of generating the necessary linkages for sustainable economic development.

Governments often use direct subsidies or tax credits to encourage investment and promote economic growth and other development objectives. Properly designed and implemented, these incentives can advance a wide range of policy objectives (increasing employment, promoting sustainability, and reducing inequality). Yet since design and implementation are complicated, incentives have been associated with rent-seeking and wasteful public spending. This collection illustrates the different types and uses of these initiatives worldwide and examines the institutional steps that extend their value. By combining economic analysis with development impacts, regulatory issues, and policy options, these essays show not only how to increase the mobility of capital so that cities, states, nations, and regions can better attract, direct, and retain investments but also how to craft policy and compromise to ensure incentives endure.

Sustainable development in the fields of human rights and environment has been in the works for decades since its introduction by the Brundtland Commission Report in 1987. While the World Trade Organization has taken to incentivizing sustainable development, international investment law and arbitration are only catching up. Given the international efforts in recognizing sustainable development as an important national and international goal, it is important to propose legal solutions to incentivize sustainable development for foreign investors. At an international level, technical assistance for host states, and benefit schemes for investors who contribute to sustainable development through the adoption of internationally accepted principles and corporate social responsibility (CSR) have gained ground. However, sustainable development rarely finds its place in the current design of most international investment agreements (IIAs). This Article revisits the International Law Association “New Delhi Declaration of Principles of International Law Relating to Sustainable Development” to formulate concrete legal solutions for introducing sustainable development not only as a binding obligation for investors but also as an incentive to improve sustainability through self-monitoring rather than national or international enforcement.

Sustainable development, as defined by the World Commission on Environment and Development, is "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." More specifically, sustainable development is a process of change that seeks to improve the collective quality of life by focusing on economically, socially, and environmentally sound projects that are viable in the long-term. Sustainable development requires structural economic change and the foundation of that change is investment. In developing nations with low levels of domestic savings, investment predictably comes from abroad in the form of foreign direct investment. A large and ever expanding number of international investment agreements are in place to govern these transactions. While these accords seek to foster development while mitigating the risk involved in these types investments, many questions remain unresolved. This highly insightful book reflects the contributions of a variety of world renowned experts each of which is designed to provide the reader with valuable perspective on recent developments in investment law negotiations and jurisprudence from a sustainable development law perspective. It offers answers to pertinent questions concerning advancements in investment law, including the negotiation of numerous regional and bilateral agreements as well as the increasing number of disputes resolved in the World Bank's International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), from different developed and developing country perspectives. It lays out future directions for new treaty negotiations and dispute settlement proceedings, as well as ongoing investment promotion efforts, against a background of rapidly evolving international relationships between economic, environment and development law. It focuses on key issues in investment laws which have emerged as priorities in the negotiation of bilateral and regional investment agreements, and have been clarified through recent decisions of the ICSID and other arbitral panel awards.

"This book examines the economic performance of global economies and addresses how environmental capital should be included in forecasting. Seck begins with an analysis of standard macroeconomics frameworks and policy practice. He argues, with reference to environmental accounting literature, that environmental capital must form an integral component of economic measurement. This paves the way for an alternative environmental-macroeconomics framework for policy analysis that promotes sustainable development. The book demonstrates how environmental capital can be measured with reference to select OECD countries, and provides a methodology for analysing how macroeconomic goals are related to a steady state economy. Seck then concludes with a summary of the conflict between current economic growth and ecosystem preservation, and outlines possible policy improvements and directions for research. Rethinking Sustainable Development is an invaluable reference for policymakers as well as researchers and students of environmental economics, sustainable development, and macroeconomics"--

This book provides an innovative framework to analyze the process of industrial upgrading and diversification, a key feature of economic development. Based on this framework, it provides concrete advice to development practitioners and policy makers on how to unleash a country's growth potential.

Millennium development goals (MDGs) and sustainable development goals (SDGs) have significant implications for global development, in particular for African countries. This book seeks to assist Africa’s policy makers and political leaders, MNCs and NGOs, plus its increasingly heterogeneous media landscape, to understand and better respond or negotiate the evolving development environment of the 21st century. In this collection of nuanced essays, the contributors interrogate the relationship between the MDGs and SDGs in key areas of African development to enhance our understanding and knowledge of the evolving nature of development. They address issues of governance, agriculture, south-south cooperation in a context of foreign aid, natural resource governance and sustainable development, export diversification and economic growth as well as emerging topics such as the internet of things or the sharing economy, climate change, conflict and non-traditional security. The varied, yet interlinked foci present a holistic overview of Africa’s development aspirations, and ability to transform the SDGs’ universal aspirations into local realities. This book will be of use to academics and students in Development Studies, Contemporary African Studies, Political Science, Policy Studies and Geography, and should also appeal to policy makers and development practitioners.