ministry of economy and the national council for science, technology, knowledge and innovation. this committee is an instance of collaboration between institutions that aims to develop methodologies to measure the real value of the multiple services that our ecosystems provide us every day. conference contents the fact that our annual conference will be dedicated to addressing issues on this topic this year is proof of our interest in building a better understanding of these phenomena and learn about the challenges and opportunities associated with possible future environmental scenarios and their associated macroeconomic impacts. this conference seeks to answer questions such as : what are the main mechanisms through which nature degradation and climate change can affect long - term growth? how does macroeconomic and financial stability depend on ecosystem services and climate stability? and what methodologies and tools are available to incorporate nature - 3 / 5 bis - central bankers'speeches related risks into standard macro - financial analysis? among others. to answer these questions and shed light on the future we have gathered a select group of experts. thus, today we will have two academic sessions with papers studying different aspects of the macroeconomic impacts of climate change and ecosystem services degradation, we will have philippe aghion as keynote speaker, and we will end the day with a discussion panel talking about policy implications. in the first session, james stock will talk about how both physical and transition impacts related to climate change can be incorporated into macroeconomic models and what insights we can get from these integrated kinds of models. anthony smith will then talk about how a global economy - climate model featuring a high degree of geographic resolution can shed light on the uneven distribution of the climate change impacts around the world. also, luigi durand will discuss how, through international trade, policies implemented in one country can affect the evolution of the natural capital of other countries. this session will have two amazing discussants : benjamin garcia and larry karp. today's keynote speaker, philippe aghion, will then tell us about whether it would be possible to achieve a green transition process that reduces co2 emissions and, at the same time, enhances economic growth. then, the second academic session of the day will be started by steve polasky, who will talk about to integrate ecosystem services into economic models and the policy implications resulting from such integrated framework. the second speaker of this session is justin johnson, who will discuss what are the policy recommendations from an earth - economy model to achieve global sustainability. we will have two extraordinary professors discussing steve and justin´s presentations : francisco gallego and andrew

in incrementing the monetary stimulus. in november, to reduce uncertainty about how this facility would operate, we announced how and when we would withdraw it, but keeping a significant monetary impulse to help the closing of output gap and thus pushing inflation closer to the target. now that the worst of the financial crisis has been behind us for one year, the international economy has stabilized, uncertainty has declined, and the world is resuming moderate growth. in chile, we have seen household and corporate confidence pick up, within a context of highly expansionary macroeconomic conditions. economic activity began to rise in the third quarter ; the labor market stopped deteriorating, and financial conditions have become less stringent. inflation is still negative and even below earlier projections. unlike developed countries, chile is entering this recovery phase with a strong financial system. our banking system has, on average, similar or better solvency levels than it had in the years leading to the external financial crisis. this should allow the financing of investment and consumption during the economic recovery phase. meanwhile, the market for bonds and commercial paper has become ever more important as a source of funding for larger firms. risks remain, however, and the return to sustained growth in chile and the world is not a done deal. in particular, macroeconomic packages need to be continued until the recovery is well established. emerging economies and commodity exporters deal with their own tensions. most recently, these have centered on the appreciation of their currencies, largely dependent on the us dollar. in chile, with a floating exchange rate system, the peso is not spared the effects of the world events. certainly, we will have to continue monitoring the exchange rate very closely. in particular, we will have to figure out its policy implications in order to ensure a persistent closing of the output gap and the return of inflation to the target. we foresee, as stated in the monetary policy report, that the mpr will be kept low for an extended period, to reduce pressures on the strength of the peso and open the way for a sustained recovery of private demand. next, i will describe the latest economic and financial events, projections and risks surrounding our economy, and the way in which inflation will converge to 3 % over a two - year horizon. macroeconomic scenario as i pointed out before, the international economy has stabilized. the change in financial conditions has reduced risk premia, recovered key financial prices and restored investment flows towards emerging economies. risk indicators are back to the levels they