Covid-19

The COVID-19 epidemic has caused substantial shocks on food systems worldwide. Trade and border restrictions, as well as regional lockdowns, are disrupting food supply chains and preventing the availability of financial and human capital. This contingent situation has reduced agricultural outputs and employment in several regions with possible consequences on food access and social inequalities, and thus on food security. Furthermore, the epidemic is having profound impacts on people’s lifestyles including consumers’ purchasing and eating behaviour: those effects will be likely to generate shocks on the food industry. Moreover, the epidemic is having important impacts on many food-related sectors such as public health, waste management and environmental resource management.

Undoubtedly, the COVID-19 epidemic claims for a better understanding of the vulnerability and resilience concepts as well as policy solutions and actions to recovery food-system functioning.

Research Journal of Economics (RJE) will give its contribution by starting an “Open Stream”, a section on the RJE web page to stimulate a constructive debate. Short communications, critical review articles, discussion papers and research articles will be welcomed (there will be no word limits, and even short pieces such as opinion papers or point of view will be appreciated).

The list of topics of interest is reported below, although we will welcome also other topics that are related to the relationship between the pandemic and the bio-economy:

• Macro- and micro-economic effects of the COVID-19 epidemic on agricultural and food sectors and supply chains.
• Development of new business models and competences, in the light of Agenda 2030 sustainable development goals, able to trigger changes towards a circular bioeconomy.
• Effects of the pandemic and future perspectives on food services and food retailing, including e-commerce opportunities.
• Ongoing changes in consumers’ habits, attitudes, perceptions and behaviours related to food categories driven by lockdowns and other restrictive measures.
• Farms resilience, entrepreneurial strategies, and risk coping mechanisms to face the impacts of the epidemic.
• Effects on the trade of food and agricultural products of the measures undertaken in different countries and macro-regions.
• Policy interventions are able to stimulate the recovery of agricultural and food production and the labour market.

Authors are encouraged to submit their contributions under the dedicated section "Covid-19 Open Stream Contribution" in the RJE editorial system, using the following link: https://www.scholarscentral.org/submissions/research-economics.html or you may mail us directly E-mail: economics@scitecjournals.com

The submissions, after the editorial pre-screening, will be posted online, and promptly shared and promoted to our community. The DOI code and descriptive metadata will be immediately available for download and citation. All submissions that will pass the pre-screening process will be published open access.

A selection of the submitted contributions will be peer-reviewed for potential publication in a Special Issue of RJE. In order to receive full consideration for the Special Issue, authors are encouraged to submit their paper by July 30, 2020.

Best Regards,
Adam Smith
Journal Coordinator
Research Journal of Economics
WhatsApp: +1-579-679-8957
E-mail: economics@peerjournal.org