The story
Named after Scottish economist Robert Giffen (1837–1910), who was attributed as the author of this idea by Alfred Marshall in his book Principles of Economics.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Giffen good
Today it means: A type of inferior good for which the quantity demanded increases when its price rises, and decreases when its price falls, thus violating the usual law of demand. Full definition →