Basically, he argues that any statement of market failure is a normative statement because it requires a judgement call on the part of the analyst as to how well a government could regulate the market. IOW, market failure is a normative concept.
I just mention it because your point about the Nirvana Fallacy made me think of it. Any statement of a government/market failure is normative because we have to assume how the market/government would act.
How familiar are you with Carl Dahlman's 1979 paper "The Problem of Externality?"
Zero familiarity. What should I read looking for?
Basically, he argues that any statement of market failure is a normative statement because it requires a judgement call on the part of the analyst as to how well a government could regulate the market. IOW, market failure is a normative concept.
I just mention it because your point about the Nirvana Fallacy made me think of it. Any statement of a government/market failure is normative because we have to assume how the market/government would act.
I'd agree it's hard to make it a purely positive concept. But I'd say any statement of failure is positive and normative. See https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1350178X.2017.1279741?journalCode=rjec20
Thanks for sharing! This is something I've been thinking about for a while. I think you and I are barking up the same tree