Realising rural economic transformation: Pathways to inclusive and sustainable prosperity in post-COVID-19 Asia

The world is adjusting to regain control over direct economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. This adjustment is occurring whilst global collective action is also gearing up to tackle climate change, avert biodiversity collapse and redress unsustainable growth practices that featured in pre-Covid era global economic activity for decades. COVID-19 pandemic experience since December 2019 has been a period of pronounced anxiety and inspiration. Despite the angst of widespread calamity, and the loss of over six million lives, a coordinated global effort helped contain the impacts well short of initial predictions. Progress toward eliminating poverty, the central goal in rural economic transformation, has been set back by decades. The strength in organising — through social and business processes — marked the resilience endured. The recovery is patchy and uneven across individual nations, and the medium-term prospects remain contingent on the efficacy of funding essential human services and clear market bottlenecks. Bridging capacity constraints across the rural–urban continuum also remain a need to ease the regulatory burden as the world tackles widespread externalities of the past to create new growth opportunities. In this special issue, emerging and established academics from the Asian region and beyond, draw insights from research and analysis on the challenges facing policy makers, businesses, and households in raising living standards and inspiring the pursuit of individual and social affluence during these uncertain but opportune times.