Like most of us I like to get as much value as possible for my money. Now that I'm retired this is even more the case...I'll first think long and hard about whether I'll actually use an purchased item as much as I might first imagine, and if so whether I can buy it used, or where find the best deal possible deal, etc.
Gift giving flies in the face of all that - in fact, economists refer to the inefficiency of gift-giving as a "deadweight loss". Here's an interesting paper on it it:
http://web.centre.edu/rizzo/DWL of Christmas.pdf
My wife, on the other hand, LOVES Christmas and any other gift-giving opportunity. It's one "legitimate" means for her to funnel $$ to our adult children, and (my hunch) it also gives her a chance to demonstrate our wealth to her family (our gifts, outlays for dinner when we host, etc might cost 3-4X what her brothers and sisters spend)
If I were to add up the costs of the '06 additions to the decorations inside and outside our home (my sisters were over last weekend and told my wife our livingroom looked like a holiday gift shop), the upcharge on the electric bill, the excess food that gets tossed, and the gifts we'll buy I think it'd come in around $3000.
Cb
How about you?
Gift giving flies in the face of all that - in fact, economists refer to the inefficiency of gift-giving as a "deadweight loss". Here's an interesting paper on it it:
http://web.centre.edu/rizzo/DWL of Christmas.pdf
My wife, on the other hand, LOVES Christmas and any other gift-giving opportunity. It's one "legitimate" means for her to funnel $$ to our adult children, and (my hunch) it also gives her a chance to demonstrate our wealth to her family (our gifts, outlays for dinner when we host, etc might cost 3-4X what her brothers and sisters spend)
If I were to add up the costs of the '06 additions to the decorations inside and outside our home (my sisters were over last weekend and told my wife our livingroom looked like a holiday gift shop), the upcharge on the electric bill, the excess food that gets tossed, and the gifts we'll buy I think it'd come in around $3000.
Cb
How about you?