![]() Wharton marketing professor Barbara Mellers points to several findings that she and fellow authors Philip Tetlock, a Wharton management professor, and Ilana Ritov are presenting in a paper currently under review titled, “Surprise and the Value of Gifts: Why Christmas Is Not a Deadweight Loss.” In addition, says Milkman, “altruistic gift giving without any hope of reciprocity has been shown to make people happy: It generates what behavioral economists call a ‘warm glow.’ To the extent that giving to others brings us happiness in observing, or imagining, their reactions, it is certainly not irrational.” One reason, says Wharton operations and information professor Katherine Milkman, is “reciprocity. There is lots of evidence that people behave reciprocally towards one another, so gift giving can be seen as ‘rational’ even in the context of economics if you view it as a way of strengthening a tie to someone and generating the promise of future ‘gifts’ - in the form of friendship, social networking or other things of value - from them to you.” They are offended by the idea that the giver didn’t make any effort to shop for them,” he notes in an earlier article for Knowledge at Wharton.Īnd thus enters those intangible aspects of gift giving that trip up rational economists and explain why consumers continue to spend so much time and money on the gift giving tradition. The perfect gift? Cash, says Waldfogel, because the giver and the receiver value it in exactly the same way.Īnd yet Waldfogel is the first to admit that many people regard cash gifts as “lazy and even inconsiderate. Indeed, a Wall Street Journal article this weekend noted that many economists see the holidays “not as an occasion for joy but as a festival of irrationality, an orgy of wealth-destruction.” And Joel Waldfogel, a former Wharton professor now at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, has written a book – Scroogenomics – plus many articles arguing that Christmas gift giving is a “deadweight material loss.” Many people buy gifts that cost far more than the value the recipients assign to them, he suggests. Is it worth the effort? A waste of time? A misguided, inefficient allocation of resources? It’s that time of year again, when online and bricks-and-mortar retailers are bombarded with shoppers in a frenzy to find that perfect gift for family, friends and colleagues. Building a Team to Lead in a Crisis: Four Key Steps November 22, 2022.A Key to Better Leadership: Confident Humility December 6, 2022.How to Use Neuroscience to Build Team Chemistry January 23, 2023.Crisis Leadership: Harness the Experience of Others February 14, 2023.Meet the Authors: Wharton’s Katy Milkman on How to Change May 14, 2021.Meet the Authors: Mauro Guillén on How Businesses Succeed in a Global Marketplace June 21, 2021.Meet the Authors: Wharton’s Peter Cappelli on The Future of the Office November 4, 2021.Meet the Authors: Erika James and Lynn Perry Wooten on The Prepared Leader October 3, 2022.How Data Analytics Can Help Advance DEI January 18, 2022.Action, not Words: Creating Gender and Racial Equity at Work July 11, 2022.Navigating Microaggressions at Work November 1, 2022.How National Politics Are Impacting DEI in the Workplace February 7, 2023.Great Question: Kevin Werbach on Cryptocurrency and Fintech July 21, 2021.Great Question: Dean Erika James on Crisis Management August 16, 2021.Great Question: Wendy De La Rosa on Personal Finance October 15, 2021.Great Question: Witold Henisz on ESG Initiatives November 17, 2021.Making the Business Case for ESG May 3, 2022. ![]() How Companies and Capital Can Be Forces for Good June 21, 2022.Investing in Refugee Entrepreneurs in East Africa August 8, 2022.Why Employee-owned Companies Are Better at Building Worker Wealth November 11, 2022.Beyond Business: Humanizing ESG December 13, 2021.How Analytics Is Changing Finance November 29, 2022.How Data Analytics Can Help Deliver Social Good December 20, 2022.How Analytics Can Boost Competitiveness in Sports January 31, 2023.
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