Agreement and disagreement among economists.
Suppose that Manuel, an economist from a business school in Georgia, and Poornima, an economist from a nonprofit on the West Coast, are arguing over government bailouts. The following dialogue shows an excerpt from their debate:
Poornima: Thanks to recent financial crisis, the concept of bailouts is a hot topic for debate among everyone these days.
Manuel: Indeed, it's gotten crazy! A government bailout of severly distressed financial firms is unnecessary because free markets will properly price assets.
Poornima: I don't know about that. Without a bailout of severly distressed financial firms, the economy will experience a deep recession.
The disagreement between these economists is most likely due to a) differences in scientific judgments b) differences in perception versus reality c) differences in values.
Despite their differences, with which proposition are two economists chosen at random most liekly to agree?
a) Minimum wage laws do more to harm low-skilled workers than help them.
b) Tariffs and import quotas generally reduce economic welfare.
c) Lawyers make up an excessive percentage of elected officials.