Question

8. Agreement and disagreement among economists

Suppose that Hubert, an economist from a university in Arizona, and Kate, an economist from a university in Massachusetts, are arguing over health insurance. The following dialogue shows an excerpt from their debate:   

Kate: A popular topic for debate among politicians as well as economists is the idea of providing government assistance for health benefits.

Hubert: I think it is oppressive for the government to tax people who take care of themselves in order to pay for health insurance for those who are obese.

Kate: I disagree. I think government funding of health insurance is useful to ensure basic fairness. The disagreement between these economists is most likely due to A. differences in values B.differences between perception versus reality C. differences in scientific judgments.

Despite their differences, with which proposition are two economists chosen at random most likely to agree?

A.Immigrants receive more in government benefits than they contribute in taxes.

B.Having a single income tax rate would improve economic performance.

C.Rent ceilings reduce the quantity and quality of available housing.

Answer 1

A) differences in values

(differences in values occur due to different beliefs on value judgements, like fairness or equity)

C) Rent ceilings reduce the quantity and quality of available housing

Nearly all economists do agree that Rent ceilings badly affects the availability & quality of housing. As price ceiling created by it which in turn if below equilibrium, leads to the shortages in the housing industry. And already available ones generally bad quality owed to a decline in profits of landlords