Foreword

This publication, Strengthening Economic Resilience Following the COVID-19 Crisis: A Firm and Industry Perspective, adds a new and unique contribution to the OECD’s extensive body of work on the COVID-19 crisis and resilience. It aims to identify the factors that determine the impact of economic shocks and crises – like the COVID-19 pandemic – on economies, by looking at firm and industry data that illustrate trends beyond the aggregate, economy-wide level.

The work presents several topical chapters to identify areas of vulnerability across countries, industries, firms and workers to better understand what issues might be the most pressing to address for a strong recovery and future resilience. The impacts of the crisis on the business sector are heterogeneous and multidimensional, making it crucial to analyse and understand which factors and channels can mitigate or exacerbate the effects of shocks. This publication looks at industry characteristics, business dynamics, digital transformation, international connectedness and inclusion across groups of workers, to identify possible ways to achieve greater resilience and successfully navigate the world’s pressing economic and social issues. This starts with a strong and inclusive recovery, but the report also pays special attention to ways this period can be harnessed to achieve long-term progress towards the green and digital transformations.

Perhaps most importantly, this publication aims to act as a source of evidence and inspiration for policy makers. Building resilience into economies – and coming back stronger from periods of crisis – are attainable goals that can be achieved through the design and implementation of well co-ordinated, evidence-based policy. The analysis and recommendations presented in this publication are intended to aid policy makers in this goal.

The OECD Committee on Industry, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) declassified the contents of Strengthening Economic Resilience Following the COVID-19 Crisis: A Firm and Industry Perspective as follows, by written procedure: Chapter 1 on 6 July 2021; Chapter 2 and Annexes A to D on 2 July 2021; Chapter 3 on 26 May 2021; Chapter 4 on 21 May 2021; Chapter 5 on 14 June 2021; Chapter 6 on 29 June 2021; and Chapter 7 on 18 May 2021. The OECD Secretariat prepared the report for publication.

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