Mises Institute

Has silver become a Giffen good, the famous textbook anomaly where higher prices supposedly lead to higher demand? In this episode, Mark Thornton argues the story is compelling... but wrong. Mark explains why recent surges in silver demand amid rapidly rising prices don’t overturn the law of demand. They reflect shifting demand curves as market conditions, expectations, and classifications change. The bottom line is that silver is not a paradox: it’s a timely lesson in how markets adjust while economic laws hold.

Additional Resources

“What Are Giffen Goods? Definition, Examples, and Economic Insights” by Andrew Bloomenthal (Investopedia): https://mises.org/MI_162_A

“Did Silver Break a Fundamental Law of Demand?” Money Metals’ Weekly Market Wrap Podcast (December 10, 2025): https://mises.org/MI_162_B

“Money Costs, Prices, and Alfred Marshall“ by Murray Rothbard (Man, Economy, and State with Power and Market): https://mises.org/MI_162_C

“Notes on the History of the Giffen Paradox” by George J. Stigler (The Journal of Political Economy, April 1947): https://mises.org/MI_162_D

“Giffen Behavior: Theory and Evidence“ by Robert T. Jensen and Nolan Miller: https://mises.org/MI_162_E

“Gray and Giffen Goods” by Etsusuke Masuda and Peter Newman (The Economic Journal, December 1981): https://mises.org/MI_162_F

“Beware of Giffen-ish Vibes in the Money Market” by Tim Hartford (Financial Times, May 2025): https://mises.org/MI_162_G

“Sir Robert Giffen and the Great Potato Famine: A Discussion of the Role of a Legend in Neoclassical Economics,” by Terrence McDonough and Joseph Eisenhaur (Journal of Economic Issues, September 1995): https://mises.org/MI_162_H

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The modern state doesn’t get its power from the consent of the governed. Instead, it creates crises and then uses coercion to demand obedience.

Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/stop-fighting-your-neighbor-mechanics-state-power-and-how-opt-out

Modern political economy is based upon a Machiavellian belief in might makes right. Yet, political power cannot accomplish what free markets and private property rights have done in lifting billions of people out of poverty.

Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/machiavelli-dead-why-politics-without-property-rights-rules-and-moral-limits-cannot-work

From time to time, the American people need to be reminded who is the boss. The boss is the US government. The citizenry are the serfs, the servants, the subordinates.

Original article: https://mises.org/power-market/ruthlessness-and-brutality-us-government

Restoring the rule of law and Constitutional government on immigration—something wrecked by Trump’s rule-by-decree with federal agents—is vastly more important than expelling illegal immigrants.

Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/trump-immigration-and-ice

The fact that the Republican and Democratic parties are allowed to circulate into key positions of government is proof enough that they are no threat to the true governing elites.

Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/why-americas-two-party-system-will-never-threaten-true-political-elites

If California voters and politicians do not understand the current crisis, we will see the continuous march to perdition as California politicians refuse to acknowledge that they are killing the geese laying the golden eggs.

Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/idiocracy-california-politics

The latest release of Epstein files again highlighted how disgusted and frustrated people have grown with the current elites. Yet they remain essentially untouchable. Why?

Read the article here: https://mises.org/mises-wire/everyone-agrees-our-elites-are-terrible-so-why-are-we-stuck-them

Be sure to follow the Guns and Butter podcast at https://Mises.org/GB

In most nations of any size, sectionalism is almost inevitable. How nations handle such divisions determines if sectionalism is peaceful or becomes violent. It became violent in the US in 1861.

Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/positive-view-sectional-history

Politicians are touting “affordability” to describe the current regime of rising prices. However, most lawmakers who claim they are trying to make things more affordable demand policies that make things more costly.

Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/why-affordability-wrong-term-describe-effects-inflation