Giffen good

Meaning

Noun

• A good which people consume more of as only the price rises. It has a positive price elasticity of demand.

Related

Broader meaning words

• inferior good

Origin

• Named after Scottish economist Sir Robert Giffen, who was attributed as the author of this idea by Alfred Marshall in his book Principles of EconomicsAs 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.
  
• —Alfred Marshall, Principles of Economics (1895 ed.).