Two economists can agree that raising the minimum wage creates unemployment yet one might argue that raising the minimum wage is a good policy and the other that it is a bad policy

Question

Why can this difference exist? Be sure to use the terms positive and normative in your answer.

Answer 1

Positive statements are statements that describe how the world is. Positive statements can be tested and so, ultimately, any disagreements about positive statements should be resolved. The statement that "Raising the minimum wage creates unemployment" is a positive statement and, on the basis of repeated testing, most economists agree that it is a correct positive statement. Normative statements, however, are statements that describe how the world ought to be. Normative statements depend on people's values and cannot be tested. So one economist might argue that raising the minimum wage is a good policy because this economist thinks that, although it is unfortunate that some people lose their jobs, the fact that others retain their jobs and their wages rise more than outweighs the harm created by the unemployment. Another economist might strongly differ because the second economist thinks that the harm inflicted on people who lose their jobs more than outweighs any good from some workers being paid more. This difference of opinion can last indefinitely because there is no way to test the two economists' beliefs to determine which is correct.