Knowledge@Wharton: The Efficiency of Gift Giving...

... Is It Really Better to Give than to Receive?

Now that the holiday season is in full throttle - and panic has set in among those who fret over finding the right gifts for family members, friends and perhaps even co-workers - it's worth considering a not particularly festive question: Just how efficient is gift giving? And what do the recipients of consumer purchases actually think about the gifts they get? Joel Waldfogel, professor of business and public policy at Wharton, sheds some light on this question in a new paper titled, "Does Consumer Irrationality Trump Consumer Sovereignty?"

Read the full article: http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/1088.cfm