Role of Economists
A normative statement can be defined as a statement that helps us determine the desirability of a situation by offering us a value judgement. Normative statements are the fundamental basis for normative economics when it comes to economics as a discipline. On the other hand, a positive statement is a statement that indicates the approval or disproval of a situation or condition. When circumstances are analyzed in terms of value or opinion, then what comes in mind is normative economics. Generally, normative economics acts as a reflection for value judgement. Both normative statement and positive statement can be analyzed and be proven. One can distinguish a positive statement from a normative statement by simply analyzing whether the given sentiment is a fact or an opinion.
In many cases, positive statements are made of facts. On the contrary, normative statements are made of opinions. An example of a normative statement in normative economics can be, “the government should reduce taxes by half to increase disposable income level.”