[PEN-L:2530] Re: Re: Economic's "narrow focus"

[Brad De Long <delong@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>>Explaining why, N. Gregory Mankiw, a 40-year-old Harvard economist and
>>author of a popular new textbook, "Principles of Economics," said: "We make
>>a distinction now between positive or descriptive statements that are
>>scientifically verifiable and normative statements that reflect values and
>>judgments. The question is, can you do positive economics without normative
>>economics. I think so."
>
>This is a lie. Economists *disguise* value judgements as descriptive
>statements and then mine the data to "verify" their position.
>


An example? Preferably one from the work of N. Gregory Mankiw?


Brad DeLong