_expression_ of interest: November 15^th 2016.

Notification by the editors: December 15^th 2016.

Deadline for submission: July 15^th 2017.

Planned publication of the issue: 2018.

The concept of care has a limited place in economics. Yet it is a fundamental dimension of life and plays an important role in markets and the economy. Feminists have succeeded in demonstrating the important, though generally overlooked nature of care in many social relationships. On the margins of health economics and in the caring professions many regard care as a fundamental dimension of health. But is care even more pervasive and central to economic life? Part of the challenge in answering this question lies in the lack of an examination and investigation of the care concept in economic philosophy. Care needs to be explained in terms of behavior and social interaction. Care also needs to be analyzed in its normative dimensions, and thus in relation to normative thinking in economics.

Contributors to this special issue of Œconomia are invited to explore the fundamental nature of care in economics, and apply their insights to how care operates in and influences economic life. Papers are encouraged that:

• address any of the social and economic domains in which care can be shown to play a central role.
• examine the place of the concept of care in the history of economics.
• review the important contributions of feminists and discuss the role of gender in regard to care.
• discuss the place of care in the caring professions, including health and education.
• examine the role of care in the nonprofit or third sector.
• develop careful philosophical analyses of the concept of care.
• show the interdisciplinary dimensions of care across the social sciences.
• examine the complex association of caring labor with the market.

Researchers are invited to express their interest by sending an email to oeconomia@openedition.org at the latest by November 15^th 2016. They should indicate the main theme of their contribution by providing a provisional title and a 200-word abstract. Invitations for submitting contributions will be notified by December 15^th 2016. The deadline for submission of the full paper is July 15^th 2017.