Blogosphere Reacts to "No Gift-Giving" Proposal
The basic premise of Scroogenomics must have wide appeal, based on the extensive coverage it's received in the media, including NPR , BBC, Marketplace radio, Time, New York Times, Los Angeles Times and the author's own essay in Slate.
That premise, in case you've been under a rock during the media blitz that of late seems to accompany a certain breed of economist-firebrand, is that gift-giving destroys economic value. Destroys it. How uncharitable, un-American, anti-Christian — worse, obliquely anti-leisure.
What sort of reception has the author Joel Waldfogel received? In interviews, he recites his easy observation: folks are generally unable to give gifts that the recipient values as highly as the gift-giver (think $50 sweater feeding moths in the closet). Waldfogel writes in Slate that "...we value items we receive as gifts 20 percent less, per dollar spent, than items we buy for ourselves. Given the $65 billion in U.S. holiday spending per year, that means we get $13 billion less in satisfaction than we would receive if we spent that money the usual way, carefully, on ourselves. Americans celebrate the holidays with an orgy of value destruction. Worldwide, the waste is almost twice as large."
The notion of spending less on unwanted gifts so that we can spend more on ourselves outrages some.
Chris Dillow at Stumbling and Mumbling believes the thesis takes "instrumental rationality" too far. What about the great memories created by a good gift? The social ties cemented? The romances sparked by good intentions? "Roger" on Dillow's site reminds us that some gifts are intentionally at cross-purposes with the recipient's desires, e.g., parental "good-for-you" gifts like a chemistry set. ProEthics LTD takes Waldfogel to task for ethical lapses - reminding his readers of the value asymmetries in "Gift of the Magi" and no less than an episode of The Waltons. The Guardian's Aditya Chakrabortty is more unkind, calling Waldfogel's world "consumer-onanism."
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