Ordinary good

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An ordinary good is a microeconomic concept used in consumer theory. It is defined as a good which creates increased demand when the price for the good drops or conversely decreased demand if the price for the good increases, ceteris paribus. It is the opposite of a Giffen good.

Since the existence of Giffen goods outside the realm of economic theory is still contested, the pairing of Giffen goods with ordinary goods has gotten less traction in economics textbooks than the pairing normal good/inferior good used to distinguish responses to income changes. The usage of "ordinary good" is still useful since it allows a simple representation of price and income changes. A normal good is always ordinary, while an ordinary good can be either normal or inferior.

Income change   Price change
  Normal good Inferior good   Ordinary good Giffen good
Income up Consumption up Consumption down Price up Consumption down Consumption up
Income down Consumption down Consumption up Price down Consumption up Consumption down

  • Hal Varian, Intermediate Microeconomics: A Modern Approach, Sixth Edition, chapter 6. summary.
Types of goods

public good - private good - common good - common-pool resource - club good - anti-rival goods

rivalrous good and non-excludable good
complement good vs. substitute good
free good vs. scarce good, positional good

(non-)durable good - intermediate good (producer good) - final good - consumer good - capital good.
inferior good - normal good - ordinary good - Giffen good - luxury good - Veblen good - superior good
search good - (post-)experience good - merit good - credence good - demerit good

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