Difference between Engel curve and income expansion path I was scrolling through many questions on this site about income offer path and it appeared to me that income offer path, income expansion path, engel curve all are different terms with same meaning, i.e. graph of the engel function.


  Can somebody explain what is the difference between these terms, if any?
Both of these curves describe the same phenomenon, the change in consumer choice as income changes. The difference is in the displayed variables. The Engel curve is a relationship between the consumption of a good $x$ and income $I$, whereas the income expansion path (IEP) shows the relationship between the consumption of a good $x$ and a good $y$ as income increases. These are the coordinate systems the curves are usually displayed in, so Engel in $(x,I)$, IEP in $(x,y)$.

The Engel curve would show you if good $x$ is inferior.

One can also learn this from IEP (it would have a negative slope somewhere), and in case both goods are normal IEP would show you if the consumption of one good would increase at a faster rate than that of the other.