Giffen?s Good: A case of mistaken identification

Liam Brunt

No 9737, CEPR Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Policy Research

Abstract: Giffen reported that, in the late nineteenth century, English wheat consumption rose when its price increased ? the first recorded ?Giffen good?. Using Giffen?s data, I explain how he reached his conclusion. I then show that his analysis was faulty: price elasticity of demand appears positive when the demand curve is incorrectly identified, but is significantly negative ? like any normal good ? when it is correctly identified. Since the pathological Giffen good case was actually just mistaken identification, it is no surprise that Giffen goods are impossible to find elsewhere. Popularization of the Giffen good stemmed from Marshall?s and Samuelson?s influential textbooks.

Keywords: Giffen good; Identification; Stationarity; Endogeneity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B13 B16 D12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hpe and nep-mic
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