各位读者好！今天的文章是关于经济学问题的两个种类的介绍：实证经济学和规范经济学。

首先是实证经济学。实证经济学回答的问题与“什么”相关，它致力于对经济发展、现象、概念等方面提出可靠的理由和说明。这就表明了它对于相关事实以及数据图表的分析有着十分庞大的需求，同时回答者不应带有任何自己的价值评判或观点。举个例子（虚构）：一家公司里80%的员工将自己的工作时间延长为原本工作的10%，公司CEO将每个员工的工资提高了10%。这个陈述含有精确的数据信息，不带有任何个人观点，具有实证经济学应有的特性。此外，假设提出的问题牵扯到特定情况下的经济未来趋势预测，实证经济学限制回答者必须使用多方面的证据来创立一个完整的因果关系。根本上来说，这类问题的回答必须是有依据，且可以通过其他已有的资料或历史实例来证明回答的准确性。总之，实证经济学问题的回答必须是客观、合乎逻辑和实事求是的。

接下来是规范经济学。规范经济学回答了与“应该”或“应当”相关的问题。它侧重于通过询问一件事情应该发生什么来总结确定人们对经济活动和事件的偏好。因此它是主观的，具有价值判断，可以包含个人的观点和意见。例如（虚构），公司A应该给每个延长自己工作时间的员工加薪。这一观点没有任何事实依据，它有关于个人观点且可能具有长远价值（利益）判断，因此它属于规范经济学。

总体而言，实证经济学和规范经济学是有十分显著的差异的：一个为客观而另一个为主观；一个是关于事实和分析而另一个是关于个人观点和看法；一个含有个人的价值判断而另一个却没有。无论这两种种类有多么不同，在现实生活中解决问题都不应该只套用其中一种思考方法，两类知识的共同运用在几乎每一种情况下都会产生更好的结果——规范经济学为事件提供可操作的建议想法，而实证经济学则用事实和因果关系填补了想法中缺少的客观方面的认知，这样可使得最终办法更加稳妥。因此，合理分配两种类别的考虑方面是极其重要的。

借阅文献：

• Amy Fontinelle. "Positive vs. Normative Economics: What's the Difference?." Investopedia. 23 Mar. 2020. Web. 8 Aug. 2020. <https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/12/difference-between-positive-normative-economics.asp>

-Nicolas Zou，2020.8.9

(未经允许不得转载。如果你有好的建议可以写在评论区里或私信给我。谢谢大家的支持！)

Hi everyone! Today's article is the introduction of two categories of economic questions: Positive economics and normative economics.

First is the positive economics. Positive economics answers the questions that relate to “what," it concentrates on proposing reliable justification and explanation to the economic development, phenomenon, concepts, etc. This indicates the requirement of an enormous amount of associated facts and data graph analysis, also, there should be no value judgment. For example (fictional), a company 80% of employees extended their working hours to 10 percent of their regular hours, and company's CEO increased each employee's pay by 10%. This example contains precise data, and does not involve value judgments, which shares the characteristics of positive economics. Moreover, whether the questioning subject is associated with hypothetical economic predictions or not, positive economics restricts learners to use comprehensive and precise evidence to draw a cause-and-effect relationship for the answers. Fundamentally, the answers for this type of question must be credible and can be testified with other existed information or historical instances. In conclusion, the responses to the positive economics questions must be objective, logical, and factual.

Then the Normative economics. Normative economics answers the questions that link to “should” or “ought.” It focuses on identifying people’s preferences on economical activities and events through the awareness of what should happen or what ought to happen. Thus, it is subjective and holds value judgments, personal perspective and opinion can be included in the issue. For example, that company should increase each staff’s salary. This idea doesn’t have any facts, it is about a personal opinion and it might have the judgment of value, thus it is a normative economic claim.

Overall, the differences of positive economics and normative economics are pretty significant: One is objective and one is subjective; one is only about facts and analysis but the other is about personal perspective and opinion; one contains value judgment and one doesn’t. No matter how different each category is, the resolution to a real-life problem should not solely based on just one of them. The application of both categories’ knowledge in almost every circumstance will probably lead to a better outcome—Normative economics provides actionable suggestions of an event, and the positive economics fills the objective aspects such as facts or cause-and-effect relationship, which results a dependable solution. Therefore it is essential to distribute a balance measure within these two economic categories.

Bibliography:

• Amy Fontinelle. "Positive vs. Normative Economics: What's the Difference?." Investopedia. 23 Mar. 2020. Web. 8 Aug. 2020. <https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/12/difference-between-positive-normative-economics.asp>

-Nicolas Zou，2020.8.9

(Cannot reprint without permission. If you have any good advice and suggestions, please leave them in the comment section or tell me privately. Thank everyone for the support!)