Question 2.6

1. Policy choice A and policy choice B attempt to achieve the same social goal. Policy choice A, however, results in a much less efficient use of resources than policy choice B. Therefore, economists are more likely to agree on choosing policy choice B.

   Economists often have different value judgments about the desirability of a particular social goal. But despite those differences in value judgments, they will tend to agree that society, once it has decided to pursue a given social goal, should adopt the most efficient policy to achieve that goal. Therefore economists are likely to agree on adopting policy choice B.

2. When two economists disagree on the desirability of a policy, it’s typically because one of them has made a mistake.

   Disagreements between economists are more likely to arise because they base their conclusions on different models or because they have different value judgments about the desirability of the policy.

3. Policy makers can always use economics to figure out which goals a society should try to achieve.

   Deciding which goals a society should try to achieve is a matter of value judgments, not a question of economic analysis.