Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic is more than a global health crisis. Along with the costs of millions of lives (WHO, 2021), its multidimensional impacts on the economy and society have revealed serious vulnerabilities in our national and international systems and how sensitive our resilience is to severe natural shocks and disease (OECD, 2020). During this unprecedented time, governments worldwide have struggled to balance between saving lives and keeping the economy open. Fiscal and monetary stimulus programs have been introduced to ease the economic depression, and to relieve the burden for the people, especially the disadvantaged populations. At the heart of pandemic responses, the government has proven its vital role in mitigating the immediate and long-term impacts of COVID-19. Even though the pandemic is far from over, it is about time to reflect on several lessons and experiences for moving toward the future. The calls for a resilient and sustainable recovery have arisen with the idea of “Build Back Better”, which implies an opportunity for resilient, inclusive, and environmentally-friendly recovery post disasters (Hallegatte et al., 2018). In this sense, governments’ post-pandemic policies and actions should target more than just economic revitalization but a comprehensive spectrum that considers other aspects of public governance, public service delivery, green development, and social equality and justice.

The Fulbright Review of Economics and Policy (FREP) is going to host a virtual workshop on the theme of “Policy responses for sustainable post-COVID-19 recovery”. FREP invites scholars from all around the world to submit your quality research papers that discuss responses towards resilient and sustainable post-pandemic recovery and development at the national, regional, and global scales. Areas to be covered may include, but are not limited to:

• Scenarios for the recovery
• Economic resilience, livelihoods, and infrastructure restoration
• Fiscal and monetary policies
• Globalization, trade, and global value chain
• Environment and energy
• Social and economic inequalities
• Education and health
• Governance and public administration reform
• Digital transformation and digital economy
• Policies towards migration, given demographic stagnation or contraction

We welcome submissions in several formats including empirical and theoretical research papers, technical and practitioner papers, and case studies. All the research is expected to be presented at the virtual workshop before transforming into manuscripts for publication in the upcoming issue of FREP journal in Q4, 2021.

To promote research projects in policy responses for sustainable post-COVID-19 recovery, our journal is pleased to provide authors with financial support (of USD1,000 per selected paper, irrespective of the number of authors) to facilitate their research activities (including data acquisition) at their own discretion. The funding is from Fulbright University Vietnam. The authors of selected papers presented at our webinar will receive this funding upon the completion of their paper toward acceptance for publication in our journal within a stipulated deadline. Paper selection is based on a peer-review process and the decision from the editor is final.

Important dates

• Research proposal submission deadline: July 30, 2021
• Notification of result: August 15, 2021
• Presentation submission deadline: August 30, 2021
• Virtual conference: September-October 2021 (Exact date to be confirmed)
• The first version of the manuscript due: September 20, 2021
• Final manuscripts due: October 30, 2021
• Publication: November – December 2021

How to submit

Please send your research proposal with the required information following the below template via email to FREP Editorial Office at frep@fulbright.edu.vn with the subject of “Submission - Policy responses for sustainable post-COVID-19 recovery”.

Research Proposal Template

• Title of the paper
• Author(s) information (name, affiliation, bibliography, and contact email)
• Introduction (200 words)
• Brief literature review (200 words)
• Methodology and data (300 words)
• Findings or expected findings (300 words)
• Declaration of conflicts of interest (if any)
• References

Note: If you have any queries, please contact the Editorial Office via frep@fulbright.edu.vn. To learn more about FREP, please visit our homepage at https://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/journal/frep

References

Hallegatte, S., Rentschler, J. and Walsh, B., 2018. Building back better: Achieving resilience through stronger, faster, and more inclusive post-disaster reconstruction. World Bank.

OECD (2020). Building a coherent response for a sustainable post-COVID-19 recovery. OECD Policy Responses to Coronavirus (COVID-19), OECD Publishing, Paris. Accessed at: https://doi.org/10.1787/d67eab68-en.

World Health Organization [WHO] (2021). Coronavirus COVID-19 Dashboard. Accessed at: https://covid19.who.int/