This year, my family isn't giving gifts.
My sister and brother-in-law have a cute 1-year-old and his childhood values to ponder these days. They've decided that Christmas should be about Christ, not the haul of presents.
I'm OK with this. I love giving presents, but I dislike the requisite agony and doomed purchases. Will she like it? Does he already have it? How much do you spend? Is it just more junk to clutter up our homes? What's the point?
Joel Waldfogel is with me on this.
He's a Wharton professor who claims holiday giving is destroying value in the world. You can read all about it in his new book, "Scroogenomics: Why You Shouldn't Buy Presents for the Holidays."
Basically, as George Will recently explained it in a column about book (NPR has also done a bunch on this book): "Spending is good if the purchaser, or the recipient of a gift, values the commodity more than he does the money it costs. Otherwise, there is a subtraction from society's store of value." (Late edit: Better explanation from Joel himself in a Slate column.)
In other words, whatever you buy should be worth more to you than holding on to the cash. You want a latte more than you want your 3 bucks, etc., or else you wouldn't buy it. But in the case of presents, the end recipient user doesn't value the item as much as the giver paid for it. So, say, $25 was spent for a sweater given to someone who will never, ever wear it. That's $25 that didn't add value to the world.
Makes perfect sense to me.
But I wonder if you can flip it around.
After all, a piece of paper isn't worth much. But scribble on it, fold it, and give it to a grandmother, and she's thrilled. A homemade card.
And things you make, well, no one can buy that anywhere, for any price, if they want your stamp of love on it. I might not pay $30 for a homemade scarf, but one made by a dear friend is worth far greater than that to me.
Perhaps there should be a follow-up book to "Scroogenomics."
"Grandma-nomics: Why You Should Make Presents for the Holidays."
Saturday, December 12, 2009
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4 comments:
great view point about the economics of value add (or not, in this case). the bunch of friends i have had since undergrad hold a very similar belief.... tho its more a product of 'i give u a gift, u give me a gift, it nets out so why give a gift and instead save the time and energy on food & drinks'
and i feel that all this hoopla that surrounds gifts during festive season (and in India, its like all year round!) is just a huge marketing propaganda to sell more stuff by making you feel bad if you dont give presents to your friends and family!
Good comments... I'm in Toronto with one of my best friends right now and the gift-giving subject came up yesterday. We've exchanged gifts for the past few years of knowing each other, but with both of us being unemployed right now (and me having NO CLUE what to get him), I think the gift-giving session may be kaiboshed for spending some quality time together... maybe I can convince him to go up the CN Tower with me or something.
Brianne, we're doing the same thing. Time is a wonderful gift to give!
All this giving gifts during Christmas can get a little tedious and troublesome, wondering what to buy for whom and how much money one has to spend on gifts etc... However, it was nice that you mentioned the reason for the season, which is Jesus Christ. He was presented with gifts at his birth, and at the end of his life, he gave the greatest gift which was his very life - his atoning sacrifice. And the interesting thing here is he didn't worry if the recipient would value the gift as much as it cost - he suffered for all, even the vilest of sinners and those who would blatantly mock and refuse him and his gifts. So simply put, we receive gifts warmly and we give gifts wherever financially possible, not worrying what the recipient's reaction will be.
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