To Our Readers

These are extraordinary times. We all remain uncertain about what the world will look like on the other side of the pandemic, or when we may get there. And so we wanted this year’s Forum to both acknowledge and reflect the changes that are unfolding.

Importantly, this year’s content highlights the impacts – some perhaps lasting, and others short-lived – that the disruptions caused by the pandemic are having on businesses, markets, and economies. In this, we focus especially on the research, work, and analysis being carried out across all sectors of the economy by our esteemed academic and industry experts, as well as by our colleagues.

We thought that it would be useful to frame many of these ideas by exploring an overarching theme: Who will bear residual risks in the reconfigured economic landscape? This question cuts across all manner of business relationships: B2B, producer/consumer, supplier/producer, landlord/tenant, lender/business, employer/employees, business/municipality, homeowner/mortgage provider, and insurer/insured, to name only a few.

How that residual risk is borne will be determined by law, regulation, and analysis of facts, on the one hand; and by the nature of the relationships themselves, on the other. Appropriately sorting out the responsibilities and risks among the different parties in a range of relationships, industries, and fact circumstances will require deeply thoughtful efforts.

We hope you continue to find Forum insightful, provocative, and helpful in these challenging times.

— Martha S. Samuelson, CEO and Chairman