Economic Growth The article by Leach et al. (2021) deals with the considerations of economic growth as countries deal with the outcomes of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the health crisis brought global economies to their knees, it was urgent to consider the ways in which economic development should be reconsidered. Specifically, countries must, on the one hand, consider pollical-economic conditions and, on the other, less structured processes that reflect uncertainty, complexity, and contingency (Leach et al., 2021). Issues arise in terms of the use of scientific advice and evidence in policy and inconsistencies in power relations. In addition, the established ways in which economies functioned before the pandemic were scrutinized by COVID-19, revealing the limitations of conventional economic growth models. New political forms should emerge to reshape the relation between citizens and countries when confronting healthcare crises, including those based on mutual care and solidarity (Leach et al., 2021). Therefore, the authors suggest that post-pandemic economic development must be radically transformative, inclusive, and egalitarian in terms of knowledge and related politics. Factors Contributing to Productivity Growth The article by Saleem et al. (2019) is closely connected to the topic of factors contributing to productivity growth as researchers explored the impact of innovation and total factor productivity in Pakistan’s economic environment. While the country’s economy has been undergoing several challenges, the influence of human capital, especially in terms of education, has been found to be positive and significant. This means that in order to drive productivity growth in the economy, countries must invest in increasing the significance and access to higher education (Saleem et al., 2019). Human capital development can facilitate improved financial development, leading to trade openness, which was also found to have positive significance. Therefore, a stable monetary condition is a background for the efficient market economy operation. To facilitate productivity growth in the economy, policymakers should incorporate macroeconomic policies conducive to growth, consider the importance of education and innovation, as well as financial sector development (Saleem et al., 2019). However, it is notable that long-term growth of productivity depends highly on the potential ability of a country to move up on the innovation scale to remain competitive worldwide. Free Trade The article by Mireles-Flores (2021) is unique in its approach for offering a methodological analysis of empirical studies on the effects of free trade and determining whether any of the available studies can be applied to guiding policy recommendations in real-world economics. The analysis showed that there was scientifically valid evidence that supported a wide generalization about the causal efficacy of free trade on economic gains. Moreover, the significant variability in research results means that they cannot be straightforwardly used to inform decisions on countries’ free trade policies. Thus, the study showed that empirical evidence developed and disseminated by economic researchers did not match the type of evidence