Since the mid-2000s, the global economy has experienced a sequence of profound shocks that have reshaped economic structures, policy priorities, and analytical frameworks. Public debt crises, financial instability, the COVID-19 pandemic, energy and supply chain disruptions, and the subsequent inflationary resurgence have not occurred in isolation. Rather, these shocks have variably interacted, revealing structural vulnerabilities while testing the limits of established economic policy tools. This Special Issue was conceived to capture studies that critically examine these dynamics through rigorous economic analyses and empirically grounded policy discussion.
The motivation behind this Special Issue was to provide a forum for addressing how economies respond before, during, and after systemic crises, with particular attention to debt accumulation, inflationary pressures, financial market behavior, and institutional capacity. The twelve contributions in this Special Issue reflect this goal: researchers combined diverse methodological approaches, regional perspectives, and thematic emphases. Together, the included studies offer a multidimensional understanding of economic resilience, fragility and adjustment in an era characterized by heightened uncertainty.
A central theme through several contributions is the role of public and external debt in shaping macroeconomic performance. A paper focusing on South Africa (Mah, 2025) provides a timely analysis of the asymmetric effects of foreign and domestic debt on economic growth. By moving beyond linear assumptions, Mah highlights how different types of debt exert distinct and nonuniform impacts on growth dynamics, particularly in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. This insight is echoed and reinforced by those of a study examining the nonlinear relationship between foreign debt and inflation in Brazil (Sharaf et al., 2024). The researchers employed advanced econometric techniques to demonstrate that debt–inflation linkages vary among regimes and economic conditions. Together, these papers underline the importance of distinguishing debt composition from debt dynamics when designing fiscal and monetary policy.
Inflation, as a macroeconomic outcome and as a policy constraint, occupies a prominent position in this Special Issue. The resurgence of inflation following the pandemic challenged long-standing assumptions about price stability, particularly in economies that had previously experienced prolonged periods of low inflation. Contributions addressing inflation and investment behavior, such as a study on foreign direct investment in a subnational U.S. economy (Wright & Wu, 2025), reveal how sustained inflation can generate differences in the responses between new and existing investment flows. These findings suggest that inflation does not uniformly deter investment but instead reshapes its composition and timing, with important implications for regional development and policy coordination.
Financial markets and instability constitute other major analytical themes in this Special Issue. Several contributions explore how crises propagate across markets, institutions, and regions. A study on intermarket reactions among asset classes before and after COVID-19 provides qualitative insights into the changing relationships among gold, oil, and digital assets under varying volatility regimes (Bannerjee et al., 2025). This perspective complements a more quantitative analysis of contagion dynamics in international equity portfolios (Floros et al., 2024), which demonstrates how macroeconomic conditions and regime shifts influence portfolio allocation and risk transmission. Together, these papers deepen our understanding of financial interconnectedness and the mechanisms through which uncertainty is transmitted across markets.
Banking sector stability and financial distress are also examined in detail. Researchers focused on banks in the MENA region (Metwally et al., 2025) to investigate the interaction among financial performance indicators, macroeconomic conditions, and financial distress, drawing on contagion and financial instability theories. The results highlight the vulnerability of banking systems to macroeconomic shocks, particularly in environments characterized by weak growth and inflationary pressures. These insights are especially relevant in the context of post-pandemic recovery, where financial institutions are playing a critical role in supporting investment and economic activity.
Beyond macroeconomic and financial variables, the papers in this Special Issue focus on the structural and institutional factors shaping economic outcomes. Governance and fiscal decentralization in Latin America (Pinilla-Rodríguez & Hernández-Medina, 2024) are examined through an empirical lens, revealing how institutional quality conditions the effectiveness of decentralized fiscal systems. The findings show that decentralization alone does not guarantee improved economic performance; rather, decentralization must be accompanied by strong governance structures and accountability mechanisms. This institutional perspective aligns with broader debates on fiscal sustainability and public sector efficiency in times of crisis.
Firm-level performance and productivity dynamics are also explored, notably through an analysis of business efficiency in the Visegrad Four countries before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic (Durana et al., 2025). This contribution illustrates how efficiency and asset management practices influence firms’ resilience to shocks and capacity to recover in turbulent economic environments. By situating firm behavior within a broader macroeconomic context, the authors bridge microeconomic analysis and macroeconomic outcomes, highlighting the importance of enterprise-level adjustment in aggregate recovery processes.
The role of technological change and structural transformation features prominently in this Special Issue. A study on technological innovation and agricultural productivity in Nigeria (Adeyemo et al., 2024) addresses the challenges faced by resource-dependent economies undergoing energy transitions. By examining the contribution of innovation to productivity outside the oil sector, the authors show the importance of diversification and technological adoption for sustainable growth. Complementing this perspective, an analysis of information and communication technology (ICT) advancements and economic growth in European Union countries provides robust empirical evidence on the growth-enhancing effects of digitalization (Magoutas et al., 2024). These contributions collectively highlight technology as a buffer against shocks and a driver of long-term structural change.
Sustainability and responsible finance are increasingly important dimensions of economic analysis in the context of systemic crises. Researchers examined the relationship between credit ratings and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) scores in banking, reflecting a growing recognition that financial stability cannot be fully understood without considering ESG factors (Vortelinos et al., 2024). By linking ESG performance to market valuation and credit risk, this contribution demonstrates how sustainability considerations are becoming embedded in financial decision-making and risk assessment.
This Special Issue also includes a comprehensive review of Greece’s economic trajectory, which situates recent developments within a longer-term historical and structural context (Makantasi & Valentis, 2024). The review highlights persistent challenges related to growth, public debt, and institutional reform, while identifying pathways forward in a post-crisis environment. As a synthesis of experience from successive crises, the case provides valuable lessons for other economies facing similar constraints.
Methodologically, the contributions in this Special Issue reflect a strong commitment to analytical rigor and innovation. The use of nonlinear models, regime-switching techniques, panel data analysis, and qualitative approaches demonstrates the value of methodological pluralism in addressing complicated economic phenomena. These different methods enhance the robustness of the findings and allow for a richer interpretation of economic dynamics under stress.
Although each paper addresses a specific research question, several overarching messages emerge from this Special Issue. First, economic crises tend to amplify existing structural weaknesses rather than create entirely new ones. Second, policy effectiveness is highly context-dependent and closely tied to institutional quality, credibility, and governance. Finally, the economic consequences of crises extend beyond short-term fluctuations in output or prices, affecting investment behavior, inequality, financial stability, and long-term development trajectories.
This Special Issue is dedicated to Professor George Agiomirgianakis on his retirement. His academic career has been marked by sustained engagement with macroeconomic policy, financial markets, and applied economic analysis, as well as by a commitment to bridging theory and practice. The thematic breadth and analytical depth of the contributions included here reflect the intellectual legacy of the field he served and the influence on generations of researchers and students.
The completion of this Special Issue would not have been possible without the dedication of the contributing authors, whose work forms the core of this scholarly endeavor. I would also like to express my sincere appreciation to the anonymous reviewers for their careful evaluations and constructive feedback, which significantly increased the quality of the published papers. Finally, I acknowledge the support of the editorial team for their professionalism and efficiency throughout the publication process.
This reprint is addressed to academics, researchers, graduate students, and policymakers seeking to understand the economic challenges posed by debt, inflation, financial instability, and structural change. My hope is that the insights provided here will inform future research and contribute to more resilient and inclusive economic policy design in an increasingly uncertain global environment.
Conflicts of Interest
The author declares no conflict of interest.
References
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