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Good X is an inferior good since the amount bought decreases from X1 to X2 as income increases. In economics, inferior goods are those goods the demand for which falls with increase in income of the consumer. So, there is an inverse relationship between income of the consumer and the demand for inferior goods. [1] There are many examples of ...
The income effect on a normal good is negative, so if its price decreases, the consumer's purchasing power or income increases. The reverse holds when the price increases and purchasing power or income decreases. An example of inferior goods is instant noodles.
If precondition #1 is changed to "The goods in question must be so inferior that the income effect is greater than the substitution effect" then this list defines necessary and sufficient conditions. The last condition is a condition on the buyer rather than the goods itself, and thus the phenomenon is also called a "Giffen behavior".
If the good is an inferior good, then the income effect will offset in some degree the substitution effect. If the income effect for an inferior good is sufficiently strong, the consumer will buy less of the good when it becomes less expensive. This is also known as a Giffen good (commonly believed to be a rarity).
The most commonly used elasticity in economics, the price elasticity of demand, is almost always negative, but many goods have positive income elasticities, many have negative. A negative income elasticity of demand is associated with inferior goods; an increase in income will lead to a fall in the quantity demanded.
The Income elastitcty of demand thus allows goods to be broadly categorised as Normal goods and Inferior goods. A positive measurement suggests that the good is a normal good, and a negative measurement suggests an inferior good. The Income elasticity of demand effectively represents a consumers idea as to whether a good is a luxury or a necessity.
A good's Engel curve reflects its income elasticity and indicates whether the good is an inferior, normal, or luxury good. Empirical Engel curves are close to linear for some goods, and highly nonlinear for others. For normal goods, the Engel curve has a positive gradient. That is, as income increases, the quantity demanded increases.
Economist Dean Baker disagrees and says that “housing wealth effect” is well-known and is a standard part of economic theory and modeling, and that economists expect households to consume based on their wealth. He cites approvingly research done by Carroll and Zhou that estimates that households increase their annual consumption by 6 cents ...