Robert Giffen

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Sir Robert Giffen, 1837-1910.

Scottish journalist, statistician and civil servant.

Born in Strathaven, Lanarkshire, and educated at the village school. While apprenticed at a solicitor's office in Glasgow, he began attending university lectures, receiving only many years later (1884) an LLD from the university. Attracted by journalism during a spell at the Stirling Journal, Giffen moved to London, where he took a job at the Globe in 1862. In 1868, he became Bagehot's assistant at The Economist. Giffen wrote extensively on economic and financial subjects mainly, notably on indicators such as wage rates, economic growth, and national product. A Manchester School liberal, Giffen was a fierce supporter of laissez-faire, pro-free trade and anti-bimetallism. Having missed out on taking over The Economist after Bagehot's death in 1878, Giffen went on to found The Statist: a journal of practical finance and trade, which would serve as Economist's principal competitor for the next few decades.

It was while working as a journalist that Giffen became heavily involved in the interpretation of economic statistics. His was a leading member of the Royal Statistical Society (formerly the Statistical Society of London), serving as editor of their Journal from 1876 to 1891, President in 1882 and 1883 and received the Guy medal in 1894.

Simultaneously, Robert Giffen entered government service. He was appointed chief of the statistical department of the Board of Trade in 1876, assistant secretary of the commercial department in 1882. During this time, he served on numerous government commissions and presented evidence before parliament. In 1893, Giffen become controller-general of the conjoined Statistical, Commercial and Labour departments until his retirement in 1897.

Giffen is credited by Marshall for suggesting the possibility that, in the case of some inferior goods, the income effects are so strong that the law of demand may be violated. Actual examples of such "Giffen goods" are rare (e.g. the oft-mentioned case is that of the demand for potatoes in Ireland).

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Major Works of Sir Robert Giffen

"The Question of Central Asia", 1868, Fortnightly Review
Economic Inquiries and Studies, 1869-1902.
"Taxes on Land", 1871, Fortnightly Review
American Railways as Investments, 1873
"Depreciation of Silver", 1876, JSS of London
Stock Exchange Securities: An essay on the general causes of fluctuations in their price, 1877.
"The Liquidation of 1873-76", 1877, Fortnightly Review
"Recent Accumulations of Capital in the United Kingdom", 1878, JSS of London
"Fall of Prices of Commodities in Recent Years", 1879, JSS of London
Essays in Finance, 1880.
"Bagehot as an Economist", 1880, Fortnightly Review
"Use of Import and Export Statistics", 1882, JSS of London
"Utility of Common Statistics: Inaugural address to the Statistical Society of London", 1882, JSS of London
"Progress of the Working Classes in the last half-century: Presidential address to the RSS", 1883, JSS of London
The Progress of the Working Classes, in the last half-century, 1884
"Some General Uses of Statistical Knowledge", 1885, JSS of London
"Further Notes on the Progress of the Working Classes in the last half-century", 1886, JSS of London
"On Some Bimetallic Fallacies", 1886
"Recent Rate of Material Progress in England: Presidential address to Section F of the BAAS", 1887, JRSS
The Recent Rate of Material Progress in England: Address to the Section F, 1887
"Recent Changes in Prices and Incomes Compared", 1888, JRSS
The Growth of Capital, 1889.
"Accumulations of Capital in the United Kingdom, 1875-85", 1890, JRSS
"A Problem in Money", 1892, Nineteenth Century.
"Fancy Monetary Standards", 1892, EJ
The Case Against Bimetallism, 1892.
"Excess of Imports", 1899
"Supplementary Chapter", 1902, in T.H. Farrar, The State in its Relation to Trade
"Financial Retrospect, 1861-1901", 1902, JRSS
"The Wealth of the Empire and How it Should be Used", 1903, JRSS
Economic Inquiries and Studies, Vol. I, Vol. II, 1904
Statistics, 1913

HET

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Resources on Sir Robert Giffen

"Review of Giffen's Essays in Finance", by Richmond Mayo-Smith, 1886, PSQ, (Jun), p.337 [js]
"Review of Giffen's Growth of Capital", by Richmond Mayo-Smith, 1890, PSQ (Sep), p.531 [js]
"Review of Giffen's Essays in Finance" by R. [Luigi Rameri?], 1887, GdE (Mar), p.195
"Giffen's Case against Bimetallism", by J. Laurence Laughlin,1892, JPE (Dec), p.131 [js]
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