Can value judgments in normative economics generate abuses of unreliable use of economic knowledge for the purposes of designing socio-economic policies?
In my opinion, economics is a neutral science in terms of valuation. In my opinion, it is not only neutral in terms of valuing the processes of host reality described by economic concepts, but should be neutral. One of the areas of economics in which value judgments are allowed is normative economics referring to the assessment of economic processes that will occur in the future or which are planned for implementation in the future. In this respect, economics is a tool for debates, discussions, brainstorming at the academic level but also in the pre-election debates in the world of politics. However, often the economics used for the needs of politicians, in the field of electoral programs, social and economic policy projects are created abuses. Often in such political applications of economic knowledge selectively selectively some theories, concepts from the history of economic thought, selected economic laws, specific dependencies, etc. which perfectly serve to explain the legitimacy of the application of a specific socio-economic policy, but usually do not include the holistically described economic reality, they do not represent all economic knowledge comprehensively.
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The question can also be posed in the following way: can the positive economy generate abuses in the use of economic knowledge, given the presumption of scientificity?
Dear Dariusz Prokopowicz , you ask an interesting question. It probably requires more clarification. Let us go to microeconomics. Values in economics are usually defined by markets. If there are many identical goods, market price gives a proxy for the average valuation. Clearly, some agents extract higher value, and then there is a consumer utility surplus.
The situation is more difficult with unique objects. Perhaps, socio-ecominic policies also deal with unique objects (like what is social utility from a new public project). Market does not know that, or only partly. In this paper I show why there is indeterminacy in their valuation: Preprint Valuation of Unique Objects: The Role of Heterogeneity and Information
Unreliable use of economic knowledge is the keyword of the issue. Main financial instituions (World bank,IMF ect) influence jugment and policy of countries (espacially underdevoleped) and by the way generate abuse of a dominant market position. Therfore urealiabe use of economic recommendations ( orders)become a way of controling and influe economies and society .
If we start from this assumption, that efficiency is desirable is a core value judgment in economics, so, if we can judge that from a point view of gains, than your question will be treated in depth, specialy, in valuating normative economics.
The question is not clear enough to be answered. Some concepts need to be clarified: what do you mean by UNRELIABLE use of economic knowledge, or abuses? What would be a holistically described economic reality?
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