Giffen good

English

Etymology

Named after Scottish economist Robert Giffen (1837–1910), who was attributed as the author of this idea by Alfred Marshall in his book Principles of Economics.[1]

Noun

Giffen good (plural Giffen goods)

  1. (economics) A postulated inferior good which people consume more of as only the price rises. It has a positive price elasticity of demand.
    • 2008, Libby Rittenberg, Principles of Microeconomics, Flat World Knowledge, →ISBN, page 182:
      To qualify as a Giffen good, a good must be inferior and must have an income effect strong enough to overcome the substitution effect. The example often cited of a possible Giffen good is the potato during the Irish famine of 1845–1849.
    • 2025 May 3, Tim Harford, “Paying more for less”, in FT Weekend, Life & Arts, page 21:
      Economists no longer believe that potatoes were Giffen goods during the great famine, so the quest for the “exceptional case” has continued. […] Last year the economist Garth Heutel published evidence that theme park rides could be Giffen goods.

Translations

See also

References

  1. ^ Alfred Marshall (1895) Principles of Economics:
    As Mr.Giffen has pointed out, a rise in the price of bread makes so large a drain on the resources of the poorer labouring families and raises so much the marginal utility of money to them, that they are forced to curtail their consumption of meat and the more expensive farinaceous foods: and, bread being still the cheapest food which they can get and will take, they consume more, and not less of it.
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