Turning Point

• Author: Gita Bhatt
• Position: Editor-in-chief
• Pages: 2-2

EDITOR'S LETTER

ON THE COVER

Politics and economics are inextricably linked, and we see this relationship play out

in our daily lives all the time. Illustrator John Cuneo’s June 2020 cover shows the

intersection of politics, special interests, and economics in the time of coronavirus.

Turning Point

FIVE MONTHS AGO

we set out to write about political economy in this

issue—how politics a ects the economy and the economy aects politics.

Few suspected then that, instead of exploring an academ ic question, we

would be witnessing real-world political economy dyna mics unfolding,

tragical ly, in real time. e pandemic, with its appal ling loss of life, has

brought the Great Lockdown and froz en the wheels of commerce. People’s

lives have been turned upside down, punctuated by f urloughs, face masks,

and fear. While th is health crisis reoriented our focus, the issue of political

economy is more relevant than ever. It underscores the notion that policies

are inuenced not just by economic analy sis but also by noneconomic,

social, and political force s. And it compels us to think about how people

and the economy will adjust in a post-pandemic world.

is issue features d iverse articles through the lens of COVID-19. Je

Frieden, Andrés Velasco, and others exam ine the importance of institutions,

identity, and trust. Antoinette Sayeh weighs polic y solutions as this crisis

robs millions of migrants of work opportunities, slashing remittances,

the single most important ow of income for many poor countr ies. Other

articles disc uss the need for social cohesion and solidarity, with policies that

protect and lift the most v ulnerable as jobs disappear and inequities deep en.

Managing t he eects of the pandemic forces a real disc ussion of how best

to implement the policy response to reach all se gments of the population.

To a large extent, economic policy will shape society’s resilience to the

emergency and its aftermath.

But a crisis of this scale is a g lobal turning point, forcing economists and

others to expand their ima gination and experiment with radical new ide as

about how the world works. Such a reimagining, a s Kristal ina Georgieva

notes in her essay, could lead us to a greener, digitally smar ter, fairer, and

more compassionate world. Perhaps this is a chance to reset the f unda-

mentals of our social and ec onomic life.

GITA BHATT, editor-in-chief

2 FINANCE & DEVELOPMENT | June 2020

FINANCE & DEVELOPMENT

A Quarterly Publication of the

International Monetary Fund

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF:

Gita Bhatt

MANAGING EDITOR:

Maureen Burke

SENIOR EDITORS:

Andreas Adriano

Jacqueline Deslauriers

Peter Walker

DIGITAL EDITOR:

Rahim Kanani

ONLINE EDITOR:

Lijun Li

PRODUCTION MANAGER:

Melinda Weir

COPY EDITOR:

Lucy Morales

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English edition ISSN 0145-1707

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