Consider the following discussion of a program of price supports for farmers:
a. The objective of our farm program is to ensure that all farmers have a reasonable standard of living. The way it does this is to ensure that farmers receive fair prices for their commodities.
It is no more right that farmers should produce for substandard prices than that workers should work for substandard wages.
b. Our farm program has been a failure. The benefi ts of the price subsidies accrue largely to large farmers (because they produce more).
Many farmers still have incomes below the poverty line. The high prices have induced increased production, which has meant high costs for the government. Acreage restrictions have had only limited eff ect because farmers have kept their best land in production. Direct grants to farmers would be preferable to our price support program.
Which of the statements in this discussion are normative, and which are positive? (The fact that you disagree with a normative statement or that you think a particular "positive" statement is inaccurate does not change the nature of the statement.) Identify the sources of disagreement: Are they due to diff erences in values and objectives? To diff erences in perceptions about the nature of the economy? Or to a failure on one (or the other) side of the debate to take into account the full consequences of the government's action?