In Brazil, the confluence of strong global demand for the country's major products, global successes for its major corporations, and steady results from its economic policies is building confidence and even reviving dreams of grandeza --the greatness that has proven elusive in the past. Even as the current economic crisis tempers expectations of the future, the trends identified in this book suggest that Brazil will continue its path toward becoming a leading economic power in the future.

Once seen as an economic backwater, Brazil now occupies key niches in energy, agriculture, service industries, and even high technology. Yet Latin America's largest nation still struggles with endemic inequality issues and deep-seated ambivalence toward global economic integration.

Scholars and policy practitioners from Brazil, the United States, and Europe recently gathered to investigate the present state and likely future of the Brazilian economy. This important volume is the timely result. In "Brazil as an Economic Superpower?" international authorities focus on five key topics: agribusiness, energy, trade, social investment, and multinational corporations. Their analyses and expertise provide not only a unique and authoritative picture of the Brazilian economy but also a useful lens through which to view the changing global economy as a whole.

"Brookings Trade Forum" provides comprehensive analysis on current and emerging issues of international trade and macroeconomics. Practitioners and academics contribute to each volume, with papers that provide an in-depth look at a particular topic. The 2008/2009 edition focuses on climate policy and its impact on trade.

Contents include - Five "Gs" Lessons for Governing Global Climate from World Trade William Antholis (Brookings) - International Trade Law and the Economics of Climate Policy: Evaluating the Legality and Effectiveness of Proposals to Address Competitiveness and Leakage Concerns Jason E. Bordoff (Brookings) - Technology Transfers and Climate Change: International Flows, Barriers, and Frameworks Thomas L. Brewer (Georgetown University) -Addressing the Leakage / Competitiveness Issue in Climate Change Policy Proposals Jeffrey A. Frankel (Harvard University) - The Economic and Environmental Effects of Border Tax Adjustments for Climate Policy Warwick J. Mckibbin and Peter J.Wilcoxen (Brookings) - The Climate Commons and a Global Environment Organization (GEO) C. Ford Runge (University of Minnesota)

Climate change threatens all people, but its adverse effects will be felt most acutely by the world's poor. Absent urgent action, new threats to food security, public health, and other societal needs may reverse hard-fought human development gains. "Climate Change and Global Poverty" makes concrete recommendations to integrate international development and climate protection strategies. It demonstrates that effective climate solutions must empower global development, while poverty alleviation itself must become a central strategy for both mitigating emissions and reducing global vulnerability to adverse climate impacts.

The fight against global poverty has quickly become one of the hottest tickets on the global agenda -with rock stars, world leaders, and multibillionaires calling attention to the plight of the poor at international confabs such as the World Economic Forum and the Clinton Global Initiative. The cozy, all-of-a-kind club of rich country officials who for decades dominated the development agenda has given way to a profusion of mega-philanthropists, "celanthropists," and super-charged advocacy networks vying to solve the world's toughest problems. Supporting the development glitterati is a sizable rank and file made up of the mass public -as evidenced by the abundance of "Make Poverty History" wristbands, an Internet-enabled spike in charitable giving at all income levels, and record involvement in overseas volunteering. While philanthropic foundations and celebrity goodwill ambassadors have been part of the charitable landscape for many years, the unprecedented explosion of development players heralds a new era of global action on poverty. Global Development 2.0 celebrates this transformative trend within international aid and offers lessons to ensure that this wave of generosity yields lasting and widespread improvements to the lives and prospects of the world's poorest. Contributors include Matthew Bishop (Economist), Joshua Busby (University of Texas-Austin), J. Gregory Dees (Duke University), Vinca LaFleur (Vinca LaFleur Communications), Homi Kharas (Brookings Institution),Ashok Khosla (Development Alternatives Group), Mark Kramer (FSG Social Impact Advisors), Jane Nelson (Harvard University), Joseph O'Keefe (Brookings Institution), Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (Brookings Institution), Darrell M.West (Brown University), and Simon Zadek (AccountAbility).

Extreme poverty exhausts institutions, depletes resources, weakens leadership, and ultimately contributes to rising insecurity and conflict. Just as poverty begets insecurity, however, the reverse is also true. As the destabilizing effects of conflict settle in, civil institutions are undermined and poverty proliferates. Breaking this nexus between poverty and conflict is one of the biggest challenges of the twenty-first century. The authors of this compelling book -some of the most experienced practitioners from around the world -investigate the complex and dynamic relationship between poverty and insecurity, exploring possible agents for change. They bring the latest lessons and intellectual framework to bear in an examination of African leadership, the private sector, and American foreign aid as vehicles for improving economic conditions and security. Contributors include Colin Kahl (University of Minnesota),Vinca LaFleur (Vinca LaFleur Communications), Edward Miguel (University of California, Berkeley), Jane Nelson (Harvard University and Brookings), Anthony Nyong (University of Jos and the International Development Research Centre, Nairobi), Susan Rice (Brookings), Robert Rotberg (Harvard University and the World Peace Foundation), Marc Sommers (Tufts University), Hendrik Urdal (International Peace Research Institute), and Jennifer Windsor (Freedom House).

"In a world transformed by globalization and challenged by terrorism, foreign aid has assumed renewed importance as a foreign policy tool. While the results of more than forty years of development assistance show some successes, foreign aid is currently dispersed between many agencies and branches of government in a manner that formulation and implementation of a coherent, effective strategy. The current political climate is receptive to a transition toward greater accountability and effectiveness in development aid. Because this transition is clearly an imperative but has not yet been comprehensively addressed, the Brookings Institution and the Center for Strategic and International Studies have conducted a joint study that both assesses the current structures of foreign assistance and makes recommendations for efficient coordination. Drawing on expertise from the full range of agencies whose policies affect foreign aid, Security by Other Means examines foreign assistance across four categories reflecting the interests that aid furthers: security, economic, humanitarian, and political. As disparities in the world become more untenable, foreign aid plays a key role in not only the national interests of the U.S. but also the interconnected interests of the international community. This important new volume takes aim at critical questions in a concerted manner by assigning coherence and effectiveness to U.S. foreign aid. Contributors include Owen Barder (Center for Global Development, formerly UK Department for International Development), Charlie Flickner (former Staff Director of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations), Steve Hensch (George Washington University), Steve Morrison (Center for Strategic and International Studies), Steve Radelet (Center for Global Development) "

Private sector activity is crucial for development. It shapes the investment climate, mobilizes innovation and financing in areas such as global health, and can either cause or mitigate social and environmental harm. Yet so far, the international development debate has not focused on the role of the private sector. This volume -written by members of the private sector, philanthropic organizations, and academia -investigates ways to galvanize the private sector in the fight against global poverty. Using a bottom-up approach, they describe how the private sector affects growth and poverty alleviation. They also review the impediments to private capital investment, and discuss various approaches to risk mitigation, including public sector enhancements, and identify some specific new plans for financing development in neglected markets, including an equity-based model for financing small-to-medium-sized enterprises. From the top-down, the authors look at the social and environmental impact of private sector activities, investigate public-private partnerships, explore new perspectives on the role of multinationals, and discuss an in-depth case study of these issues as they relate to global public health. In addition to providing a broad overview of the current issues, this forward-looking volume assesses the action-oriented initiatives that already exist, and provides templates and suggestions for new initiatives and partnerships. Contributors include David DeFerranti (Brookings Institution), Timothy Freundlich (Calvert Social Investment Foundation), Ross Levine (World Bank), Sylvia Mathews (Gates Foundation), Jane Nelson (Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government), Alan Patricof (APAX Partners), Warrick Smith (World Bank), and Julie Sunderland (APAX Partners).