Economics and Empirical / Friedman

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Some economists say that economics should be empirical, and others say that economics should make normative value judgments. In an ideological spectrum, the former has a right-wing tendency while the latter has a left-wing tendency. It seems inevitable that normative judgments have a left-wing tendency because they should be willing to improve reality. The idea of equality in human nature encourages the will to improve.

 

There are many opinions that economics, which uses statistics or quantitative methods a lot, is real science, but I think it is still a normative value judgment for me to study engineering together from time to time. This means that it cannot escape the realm of social science, which is determined to improve reality

 

Economics also seems to be a study that suffers from ideological division. Adam Smith, Professor Friedman, and Professor Mankyu are cited hard by right-wing politicians, while Keynes, Piketty, Professor Paul Krugman, and Professor Jang Ha-joon are often referred to by left-wing politicians. As for Keynes, of course, it is considered the economic bible that sets the basic norms (government interference) that the modern economy cannot escape.

 

Friedman's economic theory is relatively up-to-date, and many conservative politicians cite it. However, due to the nature of social science that cannot escape normality, one should first consider how well it fits the reality.

 

Friedman’s argument formed the core of one of the most influential economic papers of the past half century-“The Methodology of Positive economics,”published in 1953. In this essay. Friedman argued that economics should have scientific standards akin to those of physics, concerning itself with “what is,” and not with “what ought to be.”

 

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Social scientists, of course, don’t have it as easy as do physicists or chemists, who can often taske a sample of what they’re studying into the lab and subject it to experiments, getting more data in the process to test their understanding. Social scientists typically can’t do experiments, and this difficulty. Friedman suggests, poses a special problem as researchers lack new evidence to test hypotheses.

 

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What Friedman is saying here is what you might call the “it got us to the moon” argument.

 

- [ FORECAST ] BY MARK BUCHANAN -

 

This is beyond the age of going to the moon. Economics is a social science that must study new human life, and it is a social science that cannot escape normality but also has value for the future. After all, I think there will be many people who sympathize with the idea that Keynes economics has played a more role in bringing humans to the moon than Friedman's.