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In economics, we have positive and normative statements. As I understand, a positive statement is testable and verifiable, while a normative statement is a value-judgment.

Here is an example of a positive statement:

Person $X$ is $4$ years old

Here is an example of a normative statement:

Country $X$ should implement expansionary fiscal policy.

However, I'm struggling to come up with a solid example + intuitive explanation for something which is NOT a statement at all.

Help?

EDIT: I initially thought of a statement as a sentence which is either true or false, but this would disqualify normative statements as statements.

Thev
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    A statement is either true or false. "$x+3$" is not a statement. Questions are not statements. Commands or directives like "Consider the prime numbers" are not statements. – lulu Jul 03 '18 at 10:19
  • @lulu By this definition, are normative statements not statements, then? – Thev Jul 03 '18 at 10:23
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    I think it depends on the details. A statement like "prime numbers are better than composite numbers" could be true or false depending on the definition of "better". For example "I prefer prime numbers to composite numbers" is a statement and, depending on the definition of "better", it might be equivalent to the first. Absent a definition, then it wouldn't be a statement. For instance, "prime numbers are xxxyyz" is not a statement. – lulu Jul 03 '18 at 10:30
  • Note that you asked this question on a mathematics site and are getting mathematically inclined answers. Economists probably have a slightly different concept of "statements" than mathematicians. – joriki Jul 03 '18 at 10:36
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    A question is not a declarative sentence : it has no truth-value. – Mauro ALLEGRANZA Jul 03 '18 at 10:46
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    See Assertion : "An assertion is a speech act in which something is claimed to hold". We may have many types of Speech acts : requests, warnings, invitations, promises, apologies, predictions. A speech act is a linguistic performance, performed through the utterance of a sentence. An assertion utters a declarative sentence, i.e. a sentence expressing a "state of affair", i.e. that something holds (or not). – Mauro ALLEGRANZA Jul 03 '18 at 10:55
  • All mimsy were the borogoves,. And the mome raths outgrabe. -- L. Carroll – Somos Jul 03 '18 at 13:26

2 Answers2

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A classic example is "This statement is false". It is neither true nor false, so it is not a statement.

EDIT: Please see user21820's comments below, in particular his link to this post:

Is Gödel's modified liar an illogical statement?

Simon
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  • That's not right. It is a statement, just that it has no truth-value. See Quine's paradox for a more convincing example that has no self-reference. – user21820 Jul 10 '19 at 14:00
  • That's very interesting ! I think I must defer to your superior knowledge of the topic. You should perhaps post your comment as an answer ? The OP might want to deselect my answer and then select yours. – Simon Jul 10 '19 at 14:21
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    I don't think it's necessary. The key issue here is precisely in precise definitions. One is free to define "statement" to mean "mathematical statement in some first-order system", in which case things like the liar paradox simply are impossible to state. The only reason I say that your answer isn't right is because the asker seems to be using "statement" in much broader sense, and so it ought to include at least Quine's paradox. However, feel free to link to this post which provides a more detailed explanation resolving these paradoxes. – user21820 Jul 10 '19 at 14:26
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As mentioned in the comments, and in this video:

  • Questions are not statements.
  • Judgement calls are not statements.
  • Expressions are not statements.
  • Variable equations are not statements.

All these could be part of a statement but alone, they are non-statements.

Generally, only a claim or proposition qualify as a statement.

Nick
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