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Replication Data for: Giffen Behavior and Subsistence Consumption

Harvard Dataverse (Africa Rice Center, Bioversity International, CCAFS, CIAT, IFPRI, IRRI and WorldFish)

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Title Replication Data for: Giffen Behavior and Subsistence Consumption
 
Identifier https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/LGZMTI
 
Creator Jensen, Robert T.
Miller, Nolan H.
 
Publisher Harvard Dataverse
 
Description This paper provides the first real-world evidence of Giffen behavior, i.e., upward sloping demand. Subsidizing the prices of dietary staples for extremely poor households in two provinces of China, we find strong evidence of Giffen behavior for rice in Hunan, and weaker evidence for wheat in Gansu. The data provide new insight into the consumption behavior of the poor, who act as though maximizing utility subject to subsistence concerns. We find that their elasticity of demand depends significantly, and nonlinearly, on the severity of their poverty. Understanding this heterogeneity is important for the effective design of welfare programs for the poor.
 
Subject Social Sciences
 
Contributor Parrado, Andres