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Worksheetschap 2
Total questions: 10
Worksheet time: 5mins
Economists, like mathematicians, physicists, and biologists,
make use of the scientific method.
try to address their subject with a scientist’s objectivity.
devise theories, collect data, and then analyze these data in an attempt to verify or refute their theories.
All of the above are correct.
The goal of an economist who formulates new theories is to
provide an interesting framework of analysis, whether or not the framework turns out to be of much use in understanding how the world works.
provoke stimulating debate in scientific journals.
contribute to an understanding of how the world works.
demonstrate that economists, like other scientists, can formulate testable theories.
With respect to how economists study the economy, which of the following statements is most accurate?
Economists study the past, but they do not try to predict the future.
Economists use “rules of thumb” to predict the future.
Economists devise theories, collect data, and analyze the data to test the theories.
Economists use controlled experiments in much the same way that biologists and physicists do.
In conducting their research, economists face an obstacle that not all scientists face; specifically, in economics, it is often difficult and sometimes impossible to
make use of theory and observation.
rely upon the scientific method.
conduct laboratory experiments.
find articles or books that were written before 1900.
Instead of conducting laboratory experiments to generate data to test their theories, economists often
ask winners of the Nobel Prize in Economics to evaluate their theories.
argue that data is impossible to collect in economics.
gather data from historical episodes of economic change.
assume that data would support their theories.
One thing economists do to help them understand how the real world works is
make assumptions.
ignore the past.
try to capture every aspect of the real world in the models they construct.
All of the above are correct.
Normative statements are
prescriptive, whereas positive statements are descriptive.
descriptive, whereas positive statements are prescriptive.
backward-looking, whereas positive statements are forward-looking.
forward-looking, whereas positive statements are backward-looking.
Positive statements are
prescriptive.
claims about how the world should be.
claims about how the world is.
made by economists speaking as policy advisers.
Economists sometimes give conflicting advice because
graduate students in economics are encouraged to argue with each other.
economists have different values and scientific judgment.
economists acting as scientists do not like to agree with economists acting as policy advisers.
economics is more of a belief system than a science.
Which of the following is one of the basic reasons why economists often appear to give conflicting advice to policymakers?
similar opinions about the validity of economic theories
significant differences in education
differences in personal values
a reliance on normative statement for research theories
