Contributor(s): Professor Sir Tim Besley, Professor Maria Petmesidou, Professor Dimitri A. Sotiropoulos | Crises and wars have historically been drivers of political and economic change. Such moments create opportunities to reflect on the nature of the economic and political institutions in place and their capacities. This event will look at some emerging lessons of the COVID-19 crisis and directions of change and renewal. While the pandemic has unique features, many things that we have witnessed during the crisis reaffirm the importance of long-standing challenges that must be faced when building effective economies and polities. Tim Besley is School Professor of Economics of Political Science and W. Arthur Lewis Professor of Development Economics in the Department of Economics at LSE. He is also a member of the National Infrastructure Commission and, for 2018, is President of the Econometric Society. He is a Fellow of the Econometric Society and British Academy. He is also a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Economic Association and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Maria Petmesidou is Professor Emerita of Social Policy at Democritus University, Greece. For several years she was a fellow/member of the scientific committee of CROP (Comparative Research on Poverty) sponsored by the International Social Science Council (based at UNESCO) and the University of Bergen. She has served in various European expert networks and has directed (and participated in) a large number of research projects funded by Greek governmental bodies and the European Commission. Her research interests include welfare state development and comparative social policy, health and social care, youth labour market transitions, poverty, inequalities and social inclusion. Dimitri A. Sotiropoulos (@DimitriASotiro1) is a Professor of Political Science at the Department of Political Science and Public Administration of the University of Athens. In 2003 he was Senior Research Fellow at the Hellenic Observatory of the London School of Economics, in 2009-2010 Visiting Fellow in South East European Studies at St. Antony’s College, Oxford and in the autumn of 2016 Visiting Fellow at the Science Po, Paris. In 2018-2019 he was Visiting Professor at Tufts University and Visiting Fellow at Harvard’s Center of European Studies at Princeton’s Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies. Dimitri studied law and sociology at the Law School of the University of Athens (LLB), the London School of Economics (MSc) and Yale University (Ph.D., awarded with distinction, 1991). Kevin Featherstone is the Director of the Hellenic Observatory, Eleftherios Venizelos Professor of Contemporary Greek Studies, and Professor of European Politics at LSE. The Hellenic Observatory (@HO_LSE) is internationally recognised as one of the premier research centres on contemporary Greece and Cyprus. It engages in a range of activities, including developing and supporting academic and policy-related research; organisation of conferences, seminars and workshops; academic exchange through visiting fellowships and internships; as well as teaching at the graduate level through LSE's European Institute. The National Bank of Greece (@NationalBankGR), backed by its 179-year participation in the country's economic and social life, is one of the leading Greek financial organisations, with strong tradition and noteworthy contribution to the economic and social transformation of Greece. The Bank’s broad customer base, respected brand name, strong market share in deposits and enhanced capital adequacy ratios secure it with the liquidity needed to finance Greek businesses and reflect the long-standing relationship of trust it enjoys with its clientele. This event forms part of LSE’s Shaping the Post-COVID World initiative, a series of debates about the direction the world could and should be taking after the crisis.