Income Elasticity and Trends in Second-Hand Goods Sales

The current study aims to show the primary tendencies in second-hand goods trade, determine the significance of disposable income as an economic factor on second-hand goods sales, the income elasticity of their demand and the influence of income inequality on second-hand purchases in 21 selected European economies. The methods of content, comparative and correlational analysis have been applied and secondary sources of data from Eurostat are used, which allows for a national review, international comparisons and a study of the economic significance of second-hand goods trade for GDP to take place for each EU country. The results suggest that in the span of the 2010-2020 period, there is an uneven and mildly descending trend in second-hand goods commerce in the EU-21 which matches the instability of the business cycle in the entirety of the European and separate national economies and contributes, though slightly, to the creation of economic value added. The second-hand goods are normal, regardless of the initial hypothesis, they are inferior goods and their sales are moderately, positively correlated to the disposable income of the users. In fact, they are not underestimated as a source of utility and their preference is determined by a line of other factors outside the income limits.