This book explores the central economic and political issues defining the modern world. With contributions from a number of world renowned economists, a range of topical debates are discussed in an accessible and practical manner. The topics discussed include the current economic and political backdrop, global economic shifts, challenges within central banking and financial integration, the international monetary and financial system, and geopolitical tensions. Particular attention is given to the transition to a low carbon economy, the perils of public debt, the post-COVID-19 recovery, and the conflict in Ukraine. This book aims to envisage the economic challenges and opportunities that will be faced in the years to come. It will be relevant to students, researchers, and policymakers interested in economic policy and the political economy. Chapter-No.17 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

Overconfident: How Economic and Health Fault Lines Left the Middle East and North Africa Ill-Prepared to Face COVID This report examines the region’s economic prospects in 2021, forecasting that the recovery will be both tenuous and uneven as per capita GDP level stays below pre-pandemic levels. COVID-19 was a stress-test for the region’s public health systems, which were already overwhelmed even before the pandemic. Indeed, a decade of lackluster economic reforms left a legacy of large public sectors and high public debt that effectively crowded out investments in social services such as public health. This edition points out that the region’s health systems were not only ill-prepared for the pandemic, but suffered from over-confidence, as authorities painted an overly optimistic picture in self-assessments of health system preparedness. Going forward, governments must improve data transparency for public health and undertake reforms to remedy historical underinvestment in public health systems.

This book examines how decisions made by the Conservative government during the COVID19 pandemic have increased economic inequality in the UK. Decades of austerity, asset-based welfare and financialization had already exacerbated social divisions in the UK prior to the pandemic. The political blueprint behind these measures combined Privatized Keynesianism and the Asset Economy. To explain, economists have highlighted that inequality derives from the fact that income from wealth increases at a faster rate than income from wages. The ensuing political assumption is that – in the face of pressures on public finances – promoting asset ownership is the best alternative to government-funded welfare schemes. What this meant, as the pandemic unfolded, was that when tough decisions about resource allocation needed to be made, the UK Treasury and the Bank of England found almost unlimited funds to rescue and protect asset-holders and middle-income homeowners, whilst reverting to a narrative of “misfortune” for the asset-less poor. This book assesses the political decisions taken by UK policymakers during 2020-21 and their consequences. In doing so, it challenges policymakers and the informed public to re-consider the morality of inequality, and to make alternative decisions to promote a more ecologically sustainable, caring, equal and prosperous society.

Overconfident: How Economic and Health Fault Lines Left the Middle East and North Africa Ill-Prepared to Face COVID This report examines the region's economic prospects in 2021, forecasting that the recovery will be both tenuous and uneven as per capita GDP level stays below pre-pandemic levels. COVID-19 was a stress-test for the region's public health systems, which were already overwhelmed even before the pandemic. Indeed, a decade of lackluster economic reforms left a legacy of large public sectors and high public debt that effectively crowded out investments in social services such as public health. This edition points out that the region's health systems were not only ill-prepared for the pandemic, but suffered from over-confidence, as authorities painted an overly optimistic picture in self-assessments of health system preparedness. Going forward, governments must improve data transparency for public health and undertake reforms to remedy historical underinvestment in public health systems.

Fault Lines details how science and health misinformation can proliferate and its impacts on individuals, communities, and society. It explores what makes us susceptible to misinformation and how we might use these insights to improve societal resilience to it. The report includes a model of the impacts of COVID‑19 misinformation on vaccination rates in Canada, producing quantitative estimates of its impacts on our health and the economy, and situating these within a broader context of societal and economic harms.

The COVID-19 pandemic has uncovered major weaknesses in our global system. It has shown beyond doubt how the prevalence of poverty, weak health systems, lack of cducation, and above all sub-optimal global coopcration is aggravating the crisis. Be- sides its immcdiatc impact on hcalth, the socio-cconomic conscqucnces of the pan-demic are likcly to be felt by cconomic actors all over the world, and the populations of developing countries and economies in transition are expected to be among those most vulnerable to suffer from COVID-19-related challenges. The economic impact of COVID-19 pandemic has also left its mark on Sustainable Development financing. Financing Sustainable Developmment is critical for the future of the countries of the Global South. These countries are dependent on a single source of financing i.e. the ODAs from thec developed Global North. It is estimated that the financing gap betwecn the pre and post pandemic times could increase by a whopping 70 pcrccnt, owing to the fall in ODAs as a result of poor growth outlook in the devcoped countrics. 'The retreat from globalisation and the devastating impact of the pandemic on global economic growth needs to be dealt with an alternate strategy for financing Sustainable Development. The post-pandemic development finance needs to tap into muliple sources of financing that might include the public domestic resources, private sector linance, ODA from other governmens and philanthropies, remittances and South-South lows. This book is an outcome of the first of its kind e-conference in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, tackling the qucstions of cconomic growth recovery in the Global South and financing sustainable dcvclopment among the poor and vulncrable commu-nities of the Global South. Prof.(Dr.) Hebatallah Adam is Associate Professor, Assistant Dean for Acadcmic Affairs of Jindal School of International Affairs ISIA) and Executive director of Jindal Centre for the Global South O.P.Jindal Global University, Haryana - India. She is affiliated as well to the Department of Economics, Faculty of Business, Ain Shams University Cairo-Egypt where she has acquired more than 17 years of research and academic leaching experience.

The coronavirus pandemic has upended local, national, and global food systems, and put the Sustainable Development Goals further out of reach. But lessons from the world’s response to the pandemic can help address future shocks and contribute to food system change. In the 2021 Global Food Policy Report, IFPRI researchers and other food policy experts explore the impacts of the pandemic and government policy responses, particularly for the poor and disadvantaged, and consider what this means for transforming our food systems to be healthy, resilient, efficient, sustainable, and inclusive. Chapters in the report look at balancing health and economic policies, promoting healthy diets and nutrition, strengthening social protection policies and inclusion, integrating natural resource protection into food sector policies, and enhancing the contribution of the private sector. Regional sections look at the diverse experiences around the world, and a special section on finance looks at innovative ways of funding food system transformation. Critical questions addressed include: - Who felt the greatest impact from falling incomes and food system disruptions caused by the pandemic? - How can countries find an effective balance among health, economic, and social policies in the face of crisis? - How did lockdowns affect diet quality and quantity in rural and urban areas? - Do national social protection systems such as cash transfers have the capacity to protect poor and vulnerable groups in a global crisis? - Can better integration of agricultural and ecosystem polices help prevent the next pandemic? - How did companies accelerate ongoing trends in digitalization and integration to keep food supply chains moving? - What different challenges did the pandemic spark in Asia, Africa, and Latin America and how did these regions respond?

This collection discusses different aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which began in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, brought together under the slogan of “social worlds”. It is a book dedicated to thinking a posteriori about the implications and consequences of the pandemic, bearing in mind that it was a challenge (political, social, economic and philosophical) that tested the limits of human nature and the condition of humans in a world whose logic seems to slip away. In this sense, this volume brings together different approaches to this topic, ranging from philosophy to sociology, and from politics to social work, thus constituting an original work on such a delicate issue.

The COVID-19 pandemic has placed extraordinary demands on leaders compelled to navigate a complex, far-reaching event that threatened human life, business continuity and survival. What can leaders learn from the crisis response to equip them for a post-pandemic world and beyond? Leadership in a Post-Pandemic World brings together cutting-edge research by authors Prof. David McGuire and Dr. Marie-Line Germain with thought-provoking evidence-based contributions from leading international researchers offering fresh insights into how leadership approaches and practices have evolved in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Divided into four sections, it discusses the leadership challenges and subsequent skills required to deal with the pandemic in politics, education, healthcare and business industries; emergency planning; organizational and personal resilience; the effect of dysfunctional and narcissistic leaders; lessons learned and how such lessons will shape the leadership of the future. This book is a vital resource for leaders, students of leadership, strategy and management, and anyone interested in the long-term consequences of crisis leadership on our society as a whole.