Smiling at a deadweight loss
Should we be simply be giving each other cash, or are presents better after all?
6 min readDec 17, 2021
28 years ago, then young-ish economist Joel Waldfogel wrote a paper, The Deadweight Loss of Christmas, in which he argued that giving gifts at Christmas (and similar holidays with gift-giving rituals) is a colossal waste of money. Recipients value the gifts they received as less…
