Awesomelyglorious wrote:
Orwell does not always try to phrase things diplomatically,
Quote:
and I already argued with him for misrepresenting the difference between normative and positive economics on this issue,
OK, fine, I'll conceded your point there. Economists aren't supposed to say whether something is good or not but rather just what consequences it will likely have. So, strictly speaking, if I want to be more formal in an economic sense I wouldn't say that free trade is good, I would say that free trade promotes an overall increase in standard of living. But, it probably is simpler and more to the point to say the former, and few would argue against an increase in standard of living, so in the spirit of
George Orwell's 1946 essay on Politics and the English Language I say, screw the semantic differences between normative and positive economics. An economic policy is good if it leads to desired results, which include low inflation, high employment, economic growth, and progress generally. Thus, it is easier and better to simply say "X is good" rather than "X will serve to promote economic growth."
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