Question

To develop the skill of making and assessing economic arguments and to deepen understanding of the economic concepts introduced in Chapters 4 and 7.

Context: Normative economic statements are economic policy goals and values. There are two types of economic goals: efficiency and equity. Efficiency was discussed in detail in Chapter 4. Here is a nice resource that elaborates on the idea of economic justice In this exercise, we contrast these, thinking about trade-offs that might exist between the two.

Consider the following equity or economic justice statement:

   1. It is unfair to impose draconian sentences for non-violent crimes such as burglary committed by the lower classes.  

And now consider the following efficiency statement:

  2. It is efficient to impose tough sentences for non-violent crimes to reduce these socially undesirable activities.   

Task: Make one substantive but succinct post (50-200 words, no more!) to the Activity 6: Normative Economics (Efficiency vs, Equity) Forum. For your post

• Argue in favor of statement 1, explaining why it is more important than the efficiency goal in statement 2.

OR

• Argue in favor of statement 2, explaining why it is more important than the equity goal in statement 1

OR

• Propose and argue in favor of a policy that addresses both equity and efficiency goals.

Answer 1