The economics of involuntary resettlement: questions and challenges

"We cannot adopt a system in which the macroeconomic and financial is considered apart from the structural, social and human aspects, and vice versa." - James D. Wolfensohn, President of the World Bank Every important advance in development work yields lessons that point to new directions, fostering a dialogue between practice and research that encourages creative re-examination of past approaches. This volume is the product of such a dialogue on the complicated issue of involuntary population resettlement. It calls for overcoming an insular social perspective on resettlement and for building an 'alliance' between economic and sociological research about resettlement. It examines the economic tools for planning resettlement and searches for ways to refine them. The authors of this volume bring the perspectives of four scientific disciplines: economics, sociology, anthropology, and political science. They all converge in making the same basic case. They argue for an organic synergy and mutual reinforcement between economic and social knowledge in resettlement work. Bringing in the tools of economics to complement the sociological and technical analysis of resettlement processes is essential not only to better explain their anatomy, but also to guide decisionmaking and investments.