On 26/5/2007 6:16 PM, Robin van Spaandonk wrote: > In reply to Harry Veeder's message of Fri, 25 May 2007 16:18:55 -0500: > Hi, > [snip] > > Giffen makes the mistake of measuring demand by the total amount spent on the > product rather than the actual number of items traded.
Well I don't he was mistaken about what he witnessed. This wiki entry says more about the subject. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giffen_good <<Marshall wrote in the 1895 edition of 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 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.>> Harry
