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  3. American Economic Review
  4. April 2013
  5. Inferior Good and Giffen Behavior for Investing and Borrowing

American Economic Review

ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)

Inferior Good and Giffen Behavior for Investing and Borrowing

  • Felix Kubler
  • Larry Selden
  • Xiao Wei
American Economic Review
vol. 103, no. 2, April 2013
(pp. 1034–53)
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Abstract

The standard assumption that asset demand increases in income and decreases in price has its origin in Arrow's classic model with one risky and one risk free asset, where both are held long, and preferences exhibit decreasing absolute and increasing relative risk aversion. However if one allows shorting of the risk free asset or decreasing relative risk aversion, the risk free asset can not only fail to be a normal good but can be a Giffen good. This behavior can occur even for members of the popular HARA utility family. More generally, Giffen behavior can occur over multiple income ranges.

Citation

Kubler, Felix, Larry Selden, and Xiao Wei. 2013. "Inferior Good and Giffen Behavior for Investing and Borrowing." American Economic Review, 103 (2): 1034–53. DOI: 10.1257/aer.103.2.1034

JEL Classification

  • D14 Personal Finance
  • G11 Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions