A Christmas Classic

For the scrooge in your family, Joel Waldfogel, "The Deadweight Loss of Christmas", American Economic Review, 1993, vol. 83, issue 5.

Comments

Ah, but in a later study, for a subject pool not limited to microecon students, subjects "reported valuing their gifts at more than twice the estimated cost." And that's ignoring any sentimental value of the gift.

Sara J. Solnick and David Hemenway, The Deadweight Loss of Christmas: Reply, American Economic Review, 2000, vol. 90, no. 1, pp. 325-326.

Posted by RSA | December 25, 2007 2:09 PM

Steve Landsburg, What I Like about Scrooge.

Posted by chiggle | December 25, 2007 4:26 PM