Editorial

Abstract

The articles in this issue cover a variety of interesting topics. The first seven articles center around the COVID19 pandemic and discuss issues related to corporate governance, rational expectations, financing and financial stability, mergers and acquisition, and education. The first article points out the threats to established Corporate Governance practices by the pandemic, highlighting the vital role of CEOs and independent directors working together to make their firms more resilient and emerge successfully in the post-COVID-19. The second piece explains how rational expectations apply to the pandemic and its cycles of lockdowns and how this understanding can help separate the winners and the losers. The third article reflects on who pays for the COVID-19 related stimulus and lays out the pros and cons of seven established financing choices and four innovative ones. The fourth piece critically examines the latest, July 2020 RBI report on Financial Stability and suggests that the central bank’s assessment may be more optimistic than what the ground realities would suggest. The fifth one empirically shows that the short-term stock-market reaction to the pandemic induced shutdown in India was no different for firms with high and low cash reserves, contrary to what one would expect. The sixth article lays out the impact of the pandemic on global and regional M&A activity in general and in healthcare, consumer & retail, technology, media & telecom, and financial sectors in particular. The seventh piece reviews the impact of COVID-19 on the education sector that is dear to all of us.