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Joel Waldfogel is an economics prof. at Wharton School (UPenn.). His latest book is Scroogenomics. In it, he estimates that the recipient of a gift usually values the item less than its cost. By his measure, Christmastime gifts amount to $12 billion lost value ("deadweight loss") each year, which is inefficient and irrational.
Modern economics postulates that the "best" gift is money -- it let's the recipient to spend it as he or she pleases. Prof. Waldfogel's book seems a special case of this general postulate. But writing a jolly check payable to the grandchildren is not a popular choice among the grandparents currently, and unlikely ever to become one.
What is your take on his claim? Should holiday gifts be discontinued, managed, regulated, banned? Or replaced by handouts in the form of cold cash?
Modern economics postulates that the "best" gift is money -- it let's the recipient to spend it as he or she pleases. Prof. Waldfogel's book seems a special case of this general postulate. But writing a jolly check payable to the grandchildren is not a popular choice among the grandparents currently, and unlikely ever to become one.
What is your take on his claim? Should holiday gifts be discontinued, managed, regulated, banned? Or replaced by handouts in the form of cold cash?