Q.

Economics as a Science or an Art? Give reasons for your answer.

Nature of Economics: Economics as a Science and an Art

There is a great controversy among the economists regarding the nature of economics,
whether the subject ‘economics’ is considered as science or an art.

If it is a science, then either positive science or normative science.

Economics as a Science:

Science is a systematic study of knowledge and fact which develops the correlation-ship
between cause and effect. Science is not only the collection of facts, according to Prof.
Poincare, in reality, all the facts must be systematically collected, classified and analyzed.

There are following characteristics of any science subject, such as;

(i) It is based on systematic study of knowledge or facts;

(ii) It develops correlation-ship between cause and effect;
(iii) All the laws are universally accepted
(iv) All the laws are tested and based on experiments;
(v) It can make future predictions;
(vi) It has a scale of measurement.

If we analyse Economics as a science, we can find that it has all the features of science.

Economics studies cause and effect relationship between economic phenomena. For example;
the law of demand which explains inverse relationship between price and commodity
demanded means if price falls, demand expands and vice versa. So here price is the cause and
demand for a commodity is the effect.

Economics is capable of being measured in terms of money. It has its own methods of study
which are inductive and deductive.

It forecasts the future market condition with the help of various statistical and non-statistical
data or tools. Therefore, there are concepts like demand forecasting in economics.

However, it must be noted that economics is not a pure or perfect science. Because,
Economists do not have uniform opinion about a particular event.

Money which is used to measure outcomes in Economics is itself a dependent variable.

The subject matter of Economics is the economic behaviour of consumer and human behaviour
is highly unpredictable. It is not possible to make correct predictions about the behaviour of
economic variables.

Economics as an Art:

Art lays down precepts or formulate to guide people who want to achieve a certain aims or
goals. Art is nothing but practice of knowledge. Whereas science teaches us to know, art
teaches us to do. Unlike science which is theoretical, art is practical.

If we analyse Economics, we find that it has the features of an art too. Because it provides
practical solutions to various economic problems regarding consumption, production,
distribution and public finance etc. It helps in solving various economic problems which we face
in our daily life.

Conclusion:

According to many economists, nature of economics is a pure science as it explains facts and
not an art because economics does not help to solve practical day to day problems.

But in reality, it not only investigates facts and discovers truth but it also undoubtedly help us
in solving many practical problems. It is not a mere theory; it has great practical use.

Hence, Economics is both a science and an art.

Economics as Positive Science and Economics as Normative Science:

As stated above, Economics is a science. But the question arises whether it is a positive science
or a normative science.

Positive Science:

A positive or pure science analyses cause and effect relationship between variables but it does
not pass value judgment. It states ‘what is’ and not ‘what ought to be’.

Positive Economics is the one that simply states facts and uses empirical evidence. For example:
According to the law of demand, “if price falls, demand expands and vice versa.”
Prof. Robbins emphasized the positive aspects of science means it deals with what is and does
not take consideration of ethics.

To achieve certain socially desirable ends, complete neutrality between ends is neither feasible
nor desirable.

For example, when one suggests adopting certain policies for increasing employment and at the
same time raising the wage rates, one is making value judgments. To make certain economic
decisions which in welfare of society, involvement of ethics become necessary.

Normative Science:

Marshall and Pigou have emphasized on the ethical aspects of economics and considered it as
normative science which involves value judgments.

It is prescriptive in nature and describes ‘what ought to be’. Normative Economics is the one
that takes values or ethics into account.

For example: How much tax should be reduced, How many employment opportunities should
be created and how the fruits of national income should be distributed.

Thus, normative economics is concerned with welfare propositions. Economics may be

treated as pure and positive economics but as a tool of practical application it must have some
normative goals in view for the welfare of the society.