• The Irish economy is facing huge challenges. It is likely that the current recession will be as deep as any experienced in the developed world since the 1930s. The social implications, in areas such as unemployment and public service provision, are likely to be immense.

• Given this situation, it is clear that academics in Ireland working in the areas of economics, sociology and other social sciences need to contribute to solving Ireland’s difficulties by providing high quality policy analysis and prescriptions. In this context, Ireland’s leading academic journal for economics and applied social science is announcing an important new initiative.

• Since its establishment in 1970, the Economic and Social Review has published original academic research, much of which was relevant to policy. However, starting with the latest issue of the journal, the Review will now also publish papers that focus to a greater degree on the implications of research findings for policy issues.

• The need for a forum for academic debate on policy issues has long been recognised in other countries. In the US, there is a wide range of different publications that meet this need, such as the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity. For the UK, there is also a range of such publications, such as the Oxford Review of Economic Policy.

• During our first year of policy editions, we have published papers on banking, on various aspects of fiscal policy including carbon and property taxes, as well as other topical issues such as negative equity and public-private sector pay differentials.