Economist Nancy Folbre to discuss the importance of the ‘Care Economy’

March 2, 2015

Nancy Folbre, professor emerita of economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, will give a free talk on Monday, March 16th at the University of Florida. Her lecture will examine how feminist social science applies to, and has the potential to change, traditional economic theory. The talk will be held at 5:30 pm in the Ustler Hall Atrium. This event is open to the public and includes time afterward for questions and discussion.

The lecture is the fifth in a series of six organized by the UF Center for the Humanities and the Public Sphere entitled “The Work of the Humanities: Critical Thinking in Lifeand Labor,” presented during the fall 2014 and spring 2015 semesters. The series shows how the humanities play a key role in understanding and shaping the future workplace.

In her talk, “Unpaid and Unpriced: Toward a Feminist Political Economy,” Nancy Folbre will focus on the importance of unpaid labor motivated by compassion and care. Although domestic, volunteer and other care-oriented tasks are difficult to quantify and often excluded from market projections, they have real economic and social costs. By studying the relationship of quantifiable market exchange and the less quantifiable care economy, we can raise new questions about the relationship of self-interest and obligation and the distinction between private and public goods.

Much of Folbre’s research focuses on the economic dimensions of care work and its impact on gender inequality. She recently edited “For Love and Money: Care Provision in the U.S.” and has authored many articles and books, including “Greed, Lust, and Gender: A History of Economic Ideas.” Between 2009 and 2014 she was a weekly contributor to the “New York Times” “Economix” blog.

For more information, please contact Bonnie Effros at (352) 392-0796 or at humanities-center@ufl.edu.