Позитивтік экономика: фактілерге негізделген талдау

Branch of economics
Positive economics (as opposed to normative economics) is the part of economics that deals with positive statements. Positive economics, was originated from positivism and got introduced to economics by John Stuart Mill in his book Auguste Comte and Positivism in 1860's, reflecting upon Comte's positivism. Then, it was developed by John Neville Keynes It deals with empirical facts as well as cause and effect behavioral relationships and emphasizes that economic theories must be consistent with existing observations and produce testable, precise predictions about the phenomena under question. Positive economics as a science concerns analysis of economic behavior to determine what is true. Examples of positive economic statements are "the unemployment rate in France is higher than that in the United States," or “an increase in government spending would lower the unemployment rate.” Either of these is potentially falsifiable and may be contradicted by evidence. Positive economics as such avoids economic value judgments. For example, a positive economic theory might describe how money supply growth affects inflation, but it does not provide any instruction on what policy ought to be followed. Positive economics is based on facts which can or cannot be approved. It provides an "objective" system of generalisations. However, due to economics being directly related with human beings, achieving objectivity can be hard. On the other hand, normative economics is based on judgments which they are either good or bad. For example, “Government spending should be increased” is a normative statement.

The scientific or positive aspects of economics were emphasized by many 20th century economists in order to show that economic theories could answer questions with the same scientific methodology as the physical sciences. Keynes was not the first person to make these distinction between positive and normative economics but his definitions have become the standard in economics teaching. Lionel Robbins's 1932 book An Essay on the Nature and Significance of Economic Science stated that economics should take as its subject matter attempts by individuals to achieve ends with limited resources. Given that any end was "dependent on scarce means", it should not take a point of view on which ends should or should not be pursued. It is believed that Robbins was instrumental in promoting the fact value distinction in economics and insisting that ethical or value judgments should not be a part of the discipline, however Robbins' views on this subject were not entirely clear. Milton Friedman, in an influential 1953 essay, elaborated on the distinctions between positive and normative economics. He defined the aim of positive economics as developing theories that give “valid and meaningful” predictions which are precise, testable and in accordance with the available empirical evidence.

According to Friedman, he suggests that the theory of positive economics consists of "complex intermixture of two elements". The methodological basis for positive/normative distinctions is rooted in the fact value distinction in philosophy. The principal proponents of such distinctions originate with David Hume and G. E. Moore. Hume defined a 'matter of fact' as something that could be directly perceived with one of the five senses. Geoff Schneider and Jean Shackelford, and Diana Strassmann dispute the idea that economics can be completely neutral and agenda free. Nelson argues that many of the current failings of economics are a result of it not being objective enough. Rather than being value free, many of its perspectives on "subject, model, method and pedagogy" are bound up in a "masculine gendered" approach. According to Hill, there are two important aspects of positive economics: Denial of normative value and economic epistemology. Hill criticizes the methodology of positive economics. There is lack of ethical considerations as positive economics targets to be value neutral.