Economics as Normative Science

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Economics as a Normative Science Economics as a normative science is concerned with what ‘ought to be’. Its objective is to examine real economic events from moral and ethical angles and to judge whether certain economic events are desirable or undesirable. It tries to find out and prescribes certain course of action which is desirable and necessary to achieve certain goals. Thus, normative economics involves value judgment. Normative economics deals primarily with economic goals of a society and policies to achieve these goals. It also prescribes the methods to correct undesirable economic happenings. To understand the difference between the positive and normative nature of economics, let us consider some economic events and their positive and normative aspects, in economic studies. For example, how are the prices of foodgrains determined is a question of positive economics, but ‘what should be the prices of foodgrains’ is a question of normative science. Consider another example. The statement ‘a decrease in taxes will encourage production’ is a question for positive economics, but ‘should taxes be reduced or not’ is a question of normative economics. In the past, there was controversy among economists over the nature of economics. Robbins emphasized that economics is purely a positive science. According to him economics should be neutral between ends. It is not for economists to pass value judgement and make pronouncements on the goodness or otherwise of human decisions. Marshall and Pigou, on the other hand, considered economics both a positive and a normative science. However, there is hardly any controversy on this issue now. It is generally agreed not that economics is both a positive and a normative science. Economists believe now that complete neutrality between ends is neither feasible nor desirable. It is not possible because in many
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