Question

Explain the value of statistics and other data to positive economists and to normative economists.

Answer 1

Positive Economists' purpose is to create an explanation of a certain economic phenomena.

These economists use statistics in order to find out the aggregate behavior of the people because of a certain economic decisions. From this, they can developed an understanding to explain the economic phenomena.

The normative economists' purpose is to find out whether a certain economic decision achieve its original purpose.

They used statistic as a quantitative measurements. They determine the goals of a certain economic policy and  They compared the statistic before the economic policy  was implemented to the condition after the implementation .

This will help them know whether the policy achieve its original goals.

For example. if a certain policy was created to reduce unemployment, normative economists will compare the data/statistic about the number of employment before and after the policy.