Robert Giffen was a economist and statistician born in Strathaven Scotland in 1837. He is most famous for his "Paradox". Giffen noted in 1890 an exception to the law of demand, certain goods demand rise as the price increase. These goods are now named after him and called Giffen goods. He is also well renowned for his work and research in the economics of banking. Robert Giffin also worked exstensivley within the British government, holding positions such as: Head of the statistical department of the board of trade, controller general, and chief statistical adviser to the government. Sadly in 1910 he suddenly passed away at the age of 72.
When employees do very similar work, it is easier to see who is more productive and who is not as productive. Tensions can arise among people when they feel that they are working harder than the rest of the team. When I worked at a textbook warehouse after my freshman year, nearly all the employees did the same work. There were a few supervisors, but most of the employees were warehouse associates. As warehouse associates, we had to take tubs of books and put the books in different areas throughout the warehouse. There was a computer system that tracked how productive an employee was, so in theory everyone should be doing approximately the same amount of work. Even though everyone had the same productivity requirements and this seemed like very simple work, there were people who did not do the best work. My coworkers, let’s call them Larry and Johnson, were two people who exemplified this variety in the quality of work. Larry would always use his phone during his shift and cu...
The notion of a Giffen good makes reference to the Irish Potato Famine, a truly horrible time where many starved to death. One should therefore associate the concept with acts of desperation rather than rationality under ordinary circumstances.
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