Giffen Good - Other Proposed Examples

Other Proposed Examples

It has been suggested that a number of other goods might be Giffen. While the arguments are theoretically sound (i.e., they accord with Marshall's basic intuition), in each case the supporting empirical evidence has been found to be unconvincing.

Anthony Bopp (1983) proposed that kerosene, a low-quality fuel used in home heating, was a Giffen good. Schmuel Baruch and Yakar Kanai (2001) suggested that shochu, a Japanese distilled beverage, "might" be a Giffen good. In both cases, the authors offered supporting econometric evidence. However, the empirical evidence has been generally considered to be incomplete. In a 2005 article, Sasha Abramsky of The Nation conjectured that gasoline, in certain circumstances, may act as a Giffen good. However, no supporting evidence was offered, and evidence from the large increases in oil prices in 2008 would suggest that quantity demanded for gasoline did actually fall as a result of increased prices. Of course, the lack of evidence at the aggregate level does not rule out that the proposed goods may have been Giffen for certain groups of consumers—in particular for poor consumers.

The great recession has raised the possibility that very safe financial assets (Treasuries, cash, gold) become Giffen goods in liquidity trap scenarios or during bad economic times. As investors fear lower returns in equities and other investments they minimize risk by purchasing more of a low return, higher price asset that is considered safer.