Letter from the Editors - Keval, Jessica and Abigail

Dear Readers,

On behalf of the NER team, it is our pleasure to present the 21st issue of the Nottingham Economic Review. The NER continues to offer students from a variety of degree backgrounds from the University of Nottingham as well as other universities around the world the opportunity to showcase their economic and political knowledge and interest in unique topics of their own choosing.

This is the first year the Nottingham Economic Review has gone completely virtual, given the impacts of Covid-19. As a result of these unprecedented changes, the NER has had to adapt and try to function in a way which has allowed our team to function from remote locations. This issue includes a selection of articles written by our own team of Editors-in-Chief as well as our associate editors highlighting the array of talent at our university boasts. Of particular note this year are the articles receiving the Gainsborough Prize (an essay competition run by the NER each summer) and we would like to extend our congratulations to the winner Luke McWatters (Associate Editor) and his thought-provoking article “A Scramble for the Arctic? How melting ice is shifting the focus of international shipping and geopolitics.”

In addition, our runner-up articles “Isn’t it time America really paid back its debts for slavery?” written by Keval Shah (Editor-in-Chief) and “Who runs the World? – Discussion of Engineered Corporate Equality” written by Jessica Richens (Editor-in-Chief). These articles along with several others are proudly displayed in this issue and we sincerely hope you enjoy reading them as much as we enjoyed writing them!

We invite you to have a look at our social media pages to keep up-to-date on NER activities and perhaps apply for the Associate Editor role in the 2020/21 team!

We would like to extend our gratitude to the host of individuals who make the NER possible each year with their continued support and dedication to the School of economics, and in particular Francis Twiddy, Susie Howe, Louise Hemming Hillary Clayton, John Gathergood and, of course, Philip Watson. The NER would not exist without Philip, a University of Nottingham alumnus and we thank him sincerely for his vested interest and the wonderful opportunities he has provided us with. In addition, we are as always extremely grateful for Gill Williamson for her continued incredible designing work for the NER each year, in bringing each article to life.

Finally, for many of our editors this was their final year studying at the University of Nottingham and they have now graduated. We thank them for dedicating their time to us and wish them all the best for the future we now look forward to welcoming our new team in the next academic year!