• Complain

Joel Waldfogel - Scroogenomics: Why You Shouldn’t Buy Presents for the Holidays

Here you can read online Joel Waldfogel - Scroogenomics: Why You Shouldn’t Buy Presents for the Holidays full text of the book (entire story) in english for free. Download pdf and epub, get meaning, cover and reviews about this ebook. year: 2009, publisher: Princeton University Press, genre: Home and family. Description of the work, (preface) as well as reviews are available. Best literature library LitArk.com created for fans of good reading and offers a wide selection of genres:

Romance novel Science fiction Adventure Detective Science History Home and family Prose Art Politics Computer Non-fiction Religion Business Children Humor

Choose a favorite category and find really read worthwhile books. Enjoy immersion in the world of imagination, feel the emotions of the characters or learn something new for yourself, make an fascinating discovery.

No cover
  • Book:
    Scroogenomics: Why You Shouldn’t Buy Presents for the Holidays
  • Author:
  • Publisher:
    Princeton University Press
  • Genre:
  • Year:
    2009
  • Rating:
    3 / 5
  • Favourites:
    Add to favourites
  • Your mark:
    • 60
    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

Scroogenomics: Why You Shouldn’t Buy Presents for the Holidays: summary, description and annotation

We offer to read an annotation, description, summary or preface (depends on what the author of the book "Scroogenomics: Why You Shouldn’t Buy Presents for the Holidays" wrote himself). If you haven't found the necessary information about the book — write in the comments, we will try to find it.

Christmas is a time of seasonal cheer, family get-togethers, holiday parties, and-gift giving. Lots and lots--and lots--of gift giving. Its hard to imagine any Christmas without this time-honored custom. But lets stop to consider the gifts we receive--the rooster sweater from Grandma or the singing fish from Uncle Mike. How many of us get gifts we like? How many of us give gifts not knowing what recipients want? Did your cousin really look excited about that jumping alarm clock? Lively and informed,Scroogenomicsillustrates how our consumer spending generates vast amounts of economic waste--to the shocking tune of eighty-five billion dollars each winter. Economist Joel Waldfogel provides solid explanations to show us why its time to stop the madness and think twice before buying gifts for the holidays.
When we buy for ourselves, every dollar we spend produces at least a dollar in satisfaction, because we shop carefully and purchase items that are worth more than they cost. Gift giving is different. We make less-informed choices, max out on credit to buy gifts worth less than the money spent, and leave recipients less than satisfied, creating what Waldfogel calls deadweight loss. Waldfogel indicates that this waste isnt confined to Americans--most major economies share in this orgy of wealth destruction. While recognizing the difficulties of altering current trends, Waldfogel offers viable gift-giving alternatives.
By reprioritizing our gift-giving habits,Scroogenomicsproves that we can still maintain the economy without gouging our wallets, and reclaim the true spirit of the holiday season.

Joel Waldfogel: author's other books


Who wrote Scroogenomics: Why You Shouldn’t Buy Presents for the Holidays? Find out the surname, the name of the author of the book and a list of all author's works by series.

Scroogenomics: Why You Shouldn’t Buy Presents for the Holidays — read online for free the complete book (whole text) full work

Below is the text of the book, divided by pages. System saving the place of the last page read, allows you to conveniently read the book "Scroogenomics: Why You Shouldn’t Buy Presents for the Holidays" online for free, without having to search again every time where you left off. Put a bookmark, and you can go to the page where you finished reading at any time.

Light

Font size:

Reset

Interval:

Bookmark:

Make

scroogenomics

WHY YOU SHOULDNT BUY
PRESENTS FOR THE HOLIDAYS

J O E L W A L D F O G E L

Princeton University Press
Princeton and Oxford

Copyright 2009 by Princeton University Press

Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street,
Princeton, New Jersey 08540
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 6 Oxford
Street, Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1TW

All Rights Reserved

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Waldfogel, Joel, 1962
Scroogenomics: why you shouldnt buy presents for the holidays /Joel Waldfogel.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-691-14264-7 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Consumption (Economics) 2. Gifts. I. Title.
HB801.W272 2009
339.47-dc22
2009006177

British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available

This book has been composed in ITC New Baskerville Std and New Caledonia LT Std

Printed on acid-free paper.

press.princeton.edu

Printed in the United States of America

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE
Introduction

CHAPTER TWO
Spending and Satisfaction

CHAPTER THREE
U.S. Holiday Spending

CHAPTER FOUR
How Much Waste Occurs at Christmas?

CHAPTER FIVE
Why We Do It: Are Gift Recipients Crackheads, or What?

CHAPTER SIX
Giving and Waste around the World

CHAPTER SEVEN
A Century of American Yuletide Spending

CHAPTER EIGHT
Have Yourself a Borrowed Little Christmas

CHAPTER NINE
Is Christmas Like Spam, Underwear, or Caviar?

CHAPTER TEN
Christmas and Commercialism: Are Santa and Jesus on the Same Team? If So, Whos Team Captain?

CHAPTER ELEVEN
Stop Carping; Its All for the Best

CHAPTER TWELVE
Making Giving More Efficient with Cash and Gift Cards

CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Giving and Redistribution

CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Solutions-Making Gift Giving a Force for Good

Preface

I first encountered Christmas after my formal indoctrination as an economist. Where others see hearthside scenes of sharing, I also sawthrough the eyes of an economista large and organized institution for value destruction, hiding in plain sight but obscured for most people by their warm childhood memories.

I responded as any social scientist would. I started doing research. I surveyed my students about how much the gifts they received were worth to them, as well as how much the givers had paid. What I found is no surprise from the standpoint of economic theory: giftsthings that others buy for youare poorly matched with your preferences. As an institution for allocating resources (getting stuff to the right people), holiday giving is a complete loser. I wrote a little paper in 1993 called The Deadweight Loss of Christmas that set off a few alarms. Although I have a day job teaching and doing research on serious topics in economics, I have long indulged a habit of Yuletide research. A few years back I did some popular writing for Slate, and I found that I enjoyed communicating about research in ways that readers might find both informative and entertaining. What follows is my attempt to share my work on Yuletide economics with a broad audience.

I am grateful to my wife, Mary Benner, for supporting all of my endeavors, wacky or otherwise. I also thank Mary and her family for introducing me to Christmas but not disowning me despite the apparent fact that I am the most ungrateful son-in-law on the planet. I thank my father, Melvin, and my late mother, Gertrude, for raising me to deplore waste. Finally, I thank my children, Hannah and Sarah, for teaching me many things and, in particular, for their enthusiasm about the ideas for encouraging charitable giving at the holidays.

I wish you happyand efficientholidays.

CHAPTER ONE
Introduction

Every December brings the same nightmarish vision. It begins at a deserted mall stacked with a million dollars worth of products. Customers form a perimeter a thousand feet outside the mall. Then, out of nowhere, a red tornado strikesjust the mall and not the crowdand lifts the clothing and appliances and books and DVDs into the air. As quickly as the cyclone landed, it rises back up to the sky. Then the products rain gently down on the crowd.

Hey, I got a toaster, says someone in the crowd.

Look, I got a red sweater, not my size or color, says another.

Wow, I got a singing fish.

And these are the lucky ones.

Miraculously, no one is hurt, everyone gets something, and neither the building nor any of the products are damaged. But after the thrill of free stuff wears off, people realize that they do not have what they want.

I go around with a clipboard asking people in the crowd how much they would willingly have paid for what they got. A few got things they wanted, or now realize they want after reading the packaging. But most are unenthusiastic about their windfalls. They would not have been willing to pay anything close to the purchase price, if anything at all. When I tally the responses, people are willing to pay an average of twenty-five cents on the dollar of retail price.

Id like to say you can rest easy because these events never happened. But they did, and they do every year in much of the world. The red tornado is Santa Claus. And despite the warm feelings he evokes in children, his tornado of giving does a perennially poor job of matching stuff with people. In so doing, he destroys a lot of value, just as he turned our million dollars worth of products into a mere $250 thousand worth of satisfaction for the shoppers encircling the mall.

Every holiday season in the living rooms of families in rich countries we experience something similar to the red tornado, only without the actual funnel cloud. For months before the big day, mothers and fathersmothers, mostlyrun around trying to find the right gifts for their loved ones, young and old. Some gift recipients are easy to second-guess. It takes little imagination to predict that a four-year-old will like a doll or a toy truck. As kids get older, it gets tougher to find a surprise gift that theyll appreciate, but older kids often take out the guesswork with specific requests for this years fashionably conformist clothes. And then there are the adults for whom we are obliged to get something. We know that Uncle Jim and his wife and kids will be there, so we have to get him something. But what sort of music does your nephew like this year? Does his tongue piercing provide a clue? And grandmas coming. You have no idea what she wants, butbelieve meshe has even less of a clue about what you and your kids over seven want.

When the day arrives, familiesand extended familiesgather around a tree or a hearth or a menorah to exchange holiday gifts. Kids squeal in delight as they open their dolls and trucks. With young children especially, the gifts matter less than the ritual of ripping off wrapping paper and bows. Teenagers feign surprisefor grandmas benefitand register actual approval for the gifts they specifically requested. They roll their eyes at the music and movies you buy them. Because youve raised them well, they manage a smile for grandmas gifts. What kid doesnt need a candle? But the fabricated smiles arent limited to the teens. The adults all arrange their faces into expressions of pleasure as they unwrap items they would never buy for themselves. A cribbage board? You shouldnt have, we tell our mothers-in-law. Indeed.

Christmas provides the occasion for a large amount of spending in predominantly Christian developed countries. In the United States, for example, retail sales during the month of December tower visibly over the volume in adjacent months. In some categorieswith familiar Yuletide waresDecember sales account for a huge share of the years sales, over a fifth at jewelry stores, about a sixth at department and discount stores, and about a seventh at clothing, electronics, sporting goods, hobby, and book stores.

Next page
Light

Font size:

Reset

Interval:

Bookmark:

Make

Similar books «Scroogenomics: Why You Shouldn’t Buy Presents for the Holidays»

Look at similar books to Scroogenomics: Why You Shouldn’t Buy Presents for the Holidays. We have selected literature similar in name and meaning in the hope of providing readers with more options to find new, interesting, not yet read works.


Reviews about «Scroogenomics: Why You Shouldn’t Buy Presents for the Holidays»

Discussion, reviews of the book Scroogenomics: Why You Shouldn’t Buy Presents for the Holidays and just readers' own opinions. Leave your comments, write what you think about the work, its meaning or the main characters. Specify what exactly you liked and what you didn't like, and why you think so.