Подчеркните модальные глаголы и их эквиваленты.
Positive And
Normative Economics In studying economics it is important to distinguish two
branches of the subject. The first is known as 'positive economics', the second
as "normative economics" Positive economics deals with objective or
scientific explanations of the working of the economy. The aim of positive
economics is to explain how society makes decisions about consumption,
production, and exchange of goods. The purpose of this investigation is
twofold: to satisfy our curiosity about why the economy works as it does, and
to have some basis for predicting how the economy will respond to changes in
circumstances. Normative economics is very different. Normative economics
offers prescript ions or recommendations based on personal value judgements. In
positive economics, we hope to act as detached scientists. Whatever our
political persuasion, whatever our view about what we would like to happen or
what we would regard as 'a good thing', in the first instance we have to be
concerned with how the world actually works. At this stage, there is no scope
for personal value judgements. We are concerned with propositions of the form:
if this is changed then that will happen. In this regard, positive economics is
similar to the natural sciences such as physics, geology, or astronomy. Here
are some examples of positive good will rise. The normative question of whether
this price rise is desirable is entirely distinct. Similarly, there would be
substantial agreement that the following proposition of positive economics is
correct: favourable weather conditions will increase wheat output, reduce the
price of wheat, and increase the consumption of wheat.
Many proposi
tions in positive economics would command widespread agreement among
professional economists. Of course, as in any other science, there are
unresolved questions where disagreement remains. These disagreements are at the
frontiers of economics. Research in progress will resolve some of these issues
but new issues will arise and provide scope for further research. Although
competent and comprehensive research can in principle resolve many of the
outstanding issues in positive economics, no corresponding claim can be made
about the resolution of disagreement in normative economics. Normative
economics is based on subjective value judgements, not on the search for any
objective truth. The following statement combines positive and normative
economics: 'The elderly have very high medical expenses compared with the rest
of the population, and the government should subsidise health bills of the
aged. The first part of the proposition - the claim that the aged have
relatively high medical bills - is a statement in positive economics. It is a
statement about how the world works, and we can imagine a research programme
that could determine whether or not it is correct. Broadly speaking, this
assertion happens to be correct. The second part of the proposition - the
recommendation about what the government should do - could never be 'proved to
be correct or false by any scientific research investigation. It is simply a
subjective value judgement based on the feelings of the person making the
statement. Many people can share this subjective judgement, for example those
people who believe that all citizens alive today should be able to purchase
roughly equal amounts of luxury and recreational goods after paying for the
necessities of life. But other people might reasonably disagree. You might
believe that it is more important to devote society's scarce resources to
improving the environment.