LAUSR

(I) As Editor-in-Chief of Economia Politica. Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics (EPOL), I have been strongly involved in promoting this Special Issue on a theme that is both contemporary and critical. I am honoured to write the Preface for what I consider to be, in this very difficult period, a crucial special issue of this Journal. The COVID-19 pandemic is not yet over. The world is grappling with its immediate impact and its repercussions are expected to last a very long time. The magnitude of this pandemic has few parallels in recent times. It has affected virtually every conceivable activity in our society, across all spheres and regions, and highlighted the precarious nature of socio-economic systems. And certainly women, especially in the Global South, are among the most vulnerable and disadvantaged. It has also posed important questions to researchers in the field of political economy and forced them to reconsider much of the received wisdom. Let me present this Special Issue by quoting a sentence from Prof. Amartya Sen’s Editorial: “I felt very interested when Prof. Alberto Quadrio Curzio asked me to author a paper on women scientists in our precarious world endangered by pandemics. It is clear that pandemics demand scientific departures, and I was looking for my Marie Curie—or to be more realistic, a collectivity of scientists who could add up to being a Marie Curie.” Amartya Sen explains other personal reasons for mentioning Marie Curie; however, I simply wish to stress here the crucial role of collaboration between all the sciences and all scientists, men and women. Moreover, Prof. Sen in accepting to write the Editorial and to be one of the Guest Editors was the crucial starting point of this initiative. Bina Agarwal gave the Special Issue an inspiring appeal with her essay and provided admirable support for the selection of articles and coordination of the review process with two other Guest Editors, Floriana Cerniglia and Ragupathy Venkatachalam who, with competence and rigour, made fundamental contributions. Finally, Jennifer Thomson brought in the admirable institutional role of the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD). To all go my warm thanks.