Editorial note. -- Introduction. The global economy and development in times of pandemic: the challenges for Latin America and the Caribbean / Alicia Bárcena and Mario Cimoli, guest editors .-- Structural asymmetries and the health crisis: the imperative of a transformative recovery for the advancement of sustainable development in Latin America and the Caribbean / Alicia Bárcena and Mario Cimoli .-- The COVID-19 crisis in Latin America in historical perspective / José Antonio Ocampo .-- Building pro-development multilateralism: towards a “New” New International Economic Order / Ha-Joon Chang .-- COVID-19, elites and the future political economy of inequality reduction in Latin America / Benedicte Bull and Francisco Robles Rivera .-- Why the rich always stay rich (no matter what, no matter the cost) / José Gabriel Palma .-- Brazil: the effects of COVID-19 and recovery / Luiz Carlos Bresser-Pereira .-- The COVID-19 crisis and the structural problems of Latin America and the Caribbean: responding to the emergency with a long-term perspective / Martín Abeles, Esteban Pérez Caldentey and Gabriel Porcile .-- Unbridled liberalism and a pandemic: at a crossroads between techno authoritarianism and a new social order / Giovanni Dosi .-- The health economy in Mexico / Leonardo Lomelí Vanegas .-- A “new normal” as a “new essential”? COVID-19, digital transformations and employment structures / Maria Savona .-- Women’s economic autonomy during the COVID-19 pandemic / Nicole Bidegain, Lucía Scuro and Iliana Vaca Trigo .-- Hyper-fortunes and the super-rich: why a wealth tax makes sense / Ramon E. López and Gino Sturla .-- Central America and the pandemic: macroeconomic policy challenges / Juan Carlos Moreno Brid and Rodrigo Alfonso Morales López .-- COVID-19 and social protection of poor and vulnerable groups in Latin America: a conceptual framework / Nora Lustig and Mariano Tommasi.