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This paper aims to examine the compatibility of Giffen behaviour with residential demand for kerosene and cooking gas.

In total, 600 questionnaires were administered on selected households in Ondo State while 485 were retrieved. Both ordinary least square and instrumental variables (IVs) were estimated, while, the IV estimated result was preferred.

The result showed that Giffen behaviour is compatible with the demand for kerosene in Ondo State, but not for cooking gas. As regard to other factors, prices of the alternatives to kerosene and cooking gas have positive but insignificant impact on the demand for the respective products. Age of the household has a positive significant impact on the demand for kerosene and cooking gas. Household in which the heads has tertiary education demand for kerosene and cooking gas more than those without any form of education. Larger households consume more of both commodities than smaller households.

Based on these findings, the authors recommend that government should continue to subsidize either the production or consumption of household kerosene.

Consumers should not mind the initial expenditure in purchasing cylinder for cooking gas as subsequent expenditure would be lower than that of kerosene.

Regulators should brace to ensure that kerosene and cooking gas be made available at government-regulated prices, particularly by checkmating the activities of the “black-marketers.”

Two outstanding knowledge gaps that this paper filled are in the novelty of this paper regarding the application of Giffen behaviour to kerosene and cooking gas. Second, previous studies did not account for the potential endogeneity problem that is inherent in the joint demand for kerosene and cooking gas. This paper took care of this by estimating the model using IVs.

Multiple connotations and conceptions of health need are currently in use. The purpose of this paper is to specify some important distinctions regarding this confusing multiplicity in a taxonomic fashion relevant to the economic problems that arise in addressing health need. Classification is possible with the relevant concepts in conventional economic theory. The classification applies wherever economic considerations bear upon health need.

Initially, some seminal economic ideas about need are presented from Marshall, Pauly, Banfield, Jevons, Deaton and Meullbauer, and Georgescu‐Roegen. Recent discussions of basic needs by Sen and Nussbaum concerning “capabilities” and human flourishing are also considered. Ruger's subsequent developments of these concepts specifically for health are noted. The paper then specifies and classifies the current economic connotations of “health need” by applying positive economic analysis and the framework of economic theory. In particular, the conventional theories of consumer demand and production supply are useful. Geometric tools of analysis along with illustrations from the health sector specify various distinctions and classifications.

The uses of the generic term “need” relate to quite different economic problems. The findings show how diverse interpretations of need can be specified.

Distinctions over health need are important since, in many Western countries, need is one of the “pillars” of the Welfare State. Effective policy requires sound conceptions and measurements of need. Given the relevance of economics for approaching competing resource uses in the face of health need, measurement of need is improved with taxonomy, and confusion reduced.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the impact of institutional quality on the international tourism demand of India. To carry out the analysis, the study first analyses the impact of composite institutional quality index and then proceeds to examine the impact of each of the individual components of institutional quality on the international tourism demand of India. The impact of income of the tourist originating countries, tourism price, trade openness and Human Development Index (HDI) on tourism demand has also been examined.

The study employed panel autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model, with data from top 30 tourist originating countries for India for the period of 1995–2016.

The results indicated that an increase in the income of the tourist originating countries has spillover effects on the development of tourism sector of India. The impact of cost of travel proxied by relative prices between the destination and origin country is found to be negative, however, statistically insignificant. The impact of trade openness and development level of the host country (proxied by HDI) is found to have positive association with the tourism demand. Institutional quality is found to have positive association with international tourism demand of India. Among the individual components of institutional quality, rule of law, regulatory quality, control of corruption and voice and accountability are found to promote the tourism sector development in the economy. Contrarily, the impact of government effectiveness is found to be negative. In the short run, most of the variables were found to support their counterpart results in long run.

This study has practical implication not only in formulating tourism sector policies of the host countries but also for issuing tourist advisories in tourist originating countries. The study holds that policymakers should work for improving institutional environment of the country such as bureaucracy, legislature, regulatory quality, rule of law and for reducing corruption at all levels so as to ensure a sustained rise in tourist inflows to India.

This study validates the link between institutional quality of a country and international demand for its tourism. To the best of the authors' knowledge, the study is the first attempt that has comprehensively analysed the impact of institutional quality on tourism demand in Indian context which has been generally ignored in the tourism literature.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an estimate of the demand and supply in the housing market in Colombia in a period of high real estate valuation (2005-2016). On the demand side, it evaluates the impact of new housing prices, unemployment, stock market returns, real wages in the retail sector, remittances and mortgage rates. On the supply side, it estimates the influence of the price of new housing, construction costs, time deposit (TD) and mortgage rates. Real estate valuation was analyzed considering foreigners migration and land prices evolution.

Ordinary least squares (OLS) was used to estimate housing area with the semilog regression model and also to construct price models. OLS was also used in price models. Since quantities depend on prices and vice versa, a two-stage least squares (2SLS) was implemented.

Rising prices in new homes have an “elastic” effect on both demand and even higher effect on supply. Likewise, the real wage index for the retail sector has an elastic effect. On the other hand, the response to interest rates is negative, but statistically significant only on the supply side. Furthermore, the inflow of remittances is “inelastic” and statistically insignificant.

Housing can sometimes be a Giffen good, this result challenges the traditional neoclassical model, but it can be explained by investment reasons and “bubble” behavior in the housing market. One last influence is the difference between “temporary” and “permanent” migrations. The latter has a statistically significant and perfectly inelastic effect on the price of new homes.

Insurance and asset holdings are modeled as the jointly determined outcomes of a constrained optimization problem. Consequently, (1) full coverage may be optimal despite limited premium loading, (2) insurance is normal if insurable assets are normal, (3) insurance cannot be a Giffen good, and (4) insurance is a complement to price‐elastic assets.

This paper aims to develop a utility maximising framework for criminal behaviour and to consider a Markowitz‐type utility function, centred at current wealth, for a representative criminal.

The paper takes the form of a conceptual discussion.

The Kahneman‐Tversky value function form seems to be consistent with the current empirical evidence, expressed mainly as the ratio of certain elasticities. The criminal's optimal level of crime is obtained and comparative statics derived to help suggest how crime might be controlled.

Empirical work is encouraged to elicit the utility function of a representative criminal in this analytical framework, to ascertain if crime is a favourable bet and if it could indeed be Giffen.

The solution shown in the paper involves an upper limit on the odds against detection of the criminal and it is shown that a distinct possibility is that crime is a Giffen commodity.

Consumption analysis is one of the most refined branches of economic theory. Over a century of scholarly efforts in utility analysis has created an impressive body of logic that incorporates the most advanced tools of mathematics. But despite the elaborate refinements it has also become one of the least operational of economic analyses. It is so highly general that it offers little in the way of testable predictions[l].

The purpose of this paper is to put forward the hypothesis that the demand for wine can be partly explained by social phenomena.

A general framework considers social phenomena. A literature review in the domain of wine shows that these aspects may constitute an interesting line of study in order to explain the demand for wine. This paper proposes an original model taking into account phenomena of imitation or phenomena of opposition between different social groups, in order to explain changes in the demand for wine. The paper shows the existence or the absence of stable equilibriums

The proposed model is applied here to three different products conveying a strong social dimension (in the domain of Wine) but it could surely be applied to other goods (luxury goods, fashion, cars, etc). Amplifying this work will consist in characterizing the conditions for the existence of stable points in the model according to the social and idiosyncratic parameters of the system.

This original approach of the demand for wine has important managerial implications. The paper suggests, in fact, a price strategy based on the rate of buyers observed in different social groups.