A Necessary Normative Context of Positive Economics?

Warren Samuels

Chapter 14 in Essays on the Methodology and Discourse of Economics, 1992, pp 266-271 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract Richard McKenzie has informed me that his article was ‘originally stimulated’ by my article on economics as a science and its relation to policy.’ There I suggested that great diversity seems to exist regarding the meaning of economics as a science, the proper social role of economists, the authoritativeness and confidence with which an economist can speak to policy issues (such as free trade), and both the respective meanings of and relationships between positive and normative economics. Using the concepts of Pareto optimality and maximization of the value of output, I attempted to indicate the various senses in which widely found lines of policyrelated reasoning were positive and/or normative. Whatever one thinks of the line(s) of filiation between McKenzie’s and my articles, the issues are, of course, longstanding.

Keywords: Free Trade; Pareto Optimality; Normative Element; Central Argument; Free Society (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1992
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Journal Article: A Necessary Normative Context of Positive Economics? (1981)
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DOI: 10.1007/978-1-349-12371-1_15

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