Introducing Supply and Demand

Giffen Goods

A Giffen good describes an extreme case for an inferior good. In theory, a Giffen good would display the characteristic that as price increases, demand for the product increases. In the real world application, there has not been a true example of a Giffen good, though a popular albeit historically inaccurate example is the purchase of potatoes (an inferior good) as prices continued to increase during the Irish potato famine.