title: Partial differential equation models in the socio-economic sciences.
abstract: Mathematical models based on partial differential equations (PDEs) have become an integral part of quantitative analysis in most branches of science and engineering, recently expanding also towards biomedicine and socio-economic sciences. The application of PDEs in the latter is a promising field, but widely quite open and leading to a variety of novel mathematical challenges. In this introductory article of the Theme Issue, we will provide an overview of the field and its recent boosting topics. Moreover, we will put the contributions to the Theme Issue in an appropriate perspective.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Numerische und Angewandte Mathematik, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität (WWU) Münster, Einsteinstraße 62, 48149 Münster, Germany martin.burger@wwu.de.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Burger
authors.affiliation: Department of Mathematics, University of Texas at Austin, 2515 Speedway Stop C1200, Austin, TX 78712-1202, USA.
authors.forename: Luis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Caffarelli
authors.affiliation: Applied Mathematics and Computational Science, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Peter A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Markowich
keywords: maths; partial differential equations; socio-economics