Editors’ Introduction

In this issue, there are four policy-relevant papers that have a particular focus to questions in the areas of finance and banking (Papers 1–3) and on employment protection (Paper 4). All papers instigated fruitful discussion by reviewers and panellists throughout the review process. The first paper examines the relationship between financial crises and productivity growth. The second paper links the rise in house prices to the decline in real risk-free interest rates. The third paper explores how banks prepare for an increase in non-performing loans. Finally, the fourth paper studies the effect of a reduction in employment protection on workers’ fertility decisions. The COVID pandemic disrupted the regular panel meetings in 2020 and while some papers were presented virtually in October 2020 (Papers 2 and 3 of this issue), others were not presented at a panel (Paper 1 and 4).