ECON 104 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Opportunity Cost, Benevolent Dictatorship, Scrappage Program

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It is important to distinguish between two types of statements, positive and normative, while thinking about economics. Positive statements (or positive analysis) are about what is. In other words, if i make a positive statement, it should be in principle possible for everybody to agree or disagree about it based on objective criteria (measurements). The unemployment rate in canada was 9. 2% in 2012: competitive markets are efficient. Normative statements (or normative analysis) are about what shoul be. They give opinions, rely on some moral values, etc. In other words, if i make a normative statement, people can subjectively disagree. The unemployment rate in canada should be lowered to help people find the jobs: competitive markets are better than government interventions. Public policies are necessarily relying on the normative analysis, yet they must be informed by the positive analysis. If the government raises the tax on beer, this will lead to a fall in profits of the brewers.

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