As a result of the significant disruption that is being caused by the COVID-19 pandemic we are very aware that many researchers will have difficulty in meeting the timelines associated with our peer review process during normal times.  Please do let us know if you need additional time. Our systems will continue to remind you of the original timelines but we intend to be highly flexible at this time.

The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented event with wide-ranging implications. Given that households are at the center of major changes affecting the entire world the Review of Economics of the Household (REHO) has decided to publish a special issue on COV-19 and the economics of the household. The review’s editor, Shoshana Grossbard, and co-editor George Davis are inviting submissions of papers related to (1) the impact, or potential impact, of COV-19 on any aspects of the economics of the household and (2) the assessment of what factors and policies related to household decision-making influence the spread of the pandemic. Aspects of the household that could be affected include labor supply, other time uses, household production, consumption patterns, health, well-being, childcare, child outcomes, eldercare, intrahousehold resource allocation, emotional relationships within the household, household composition, fertility, and migration (the list is not exhaustive).

Given the timeliness of this issue, we are expediting the normal submission and review process typical of special issues in economics journals. Thus the call for papers for this special issue is effective immediately and will be open until August 1. Reviewers will be asked to follow a tight schedule and only manuscripts requiring minor revisions will be considered for publication.  As usually done at REHO, papers will be published online soon after they are accepted. We also hope to quickly publish the complete special issue.

Regarding data and methods, given the uniqueness and timeliness of this issue, we recognize that some typical research expectations will need to be relaxed and this will be conveyed to the referees. We are open to non-typical data sources, collection methods and tools and theoretical papers are welcome. We also encourage interested authors to write short focused papers (they could be ‘notes’) so as to speed the research, writing, and review processes.  There is a 3,000 word minimum requirement.

In submitting your manuscript, please go to the REHO webpage https://www.springer.com/journal/11150 and indicate the submission is to be considered for the COVID-19 special issue (SI).