A new website has been launched this week to answer questions from policy-makers and the public about the economics of the COVID-19 crisis and the recovery.
The initiative – Economics Observatory (ECO) – is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and draws on the expertise of economists from a wide range of universities and research institutions. It will gather and evaluate the best possible data and evidence and use these as the basis for Q&A briefings on the ECO website.
Economic research is essential to understand and respond to this massive public health challenge and the global economic crisis. But it can be difficult for policy-makers and the public to interpret the key evidence and to understand where there is – and is not – consensus in the economic research community.
The briefings are written for policy-makers, the media, the public, students and teachers who are interested in the economics of COVID-19 and the implications for households, organisations and public policy.
This website and subsequent briefings are genuinely collaborative projects, with over 25 partner institutions involved in researching, writing and editing briefings, with the intention to add to this list over time. ECO will act as a hub to bring together research from across economics to answer policy questions in a way that is easy to understand.
ECO has launched with 40 briefings, with the aspiration to publish as many as 200 in the coming months, responding to need and debate. For more information and to sign up for news and alerts, please visit the website.
