Giffen good [SEP] named after
demand for the good. But a Giffen good is so strongly an inferior good in the minds of consumers (being more in demand at lower incomes) that this contrary income effect more than offsets the substitution effect, and the net effect of the good's price rise is to increase demand for it. A Giffen good is considered to be the opposite of an ordinary good.
Background.
Giffen goods are named after Scottish economist Sir Robert Giffen, to whom Alfred Marshall attributed this idea in his book "Principles of
Working Classes" (1884);
- "The Growth of Capital" (1890);
- "The Case against Bimetallism" (1892); and
- "Economic Inquiries and Studies" (1904).
The concept of a Giffen good is named after him. Alfred Marshall wrote in the third (1895) edition of his "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