How Can You Give Better Gifts? (Replay)

No Stupid Questions

How many bottles of wine are regifted? What’s wrong with giving cash? And should Angela give her husband a subscription to the Sausage of the Month Club?

• SOURCES:
  • Joel Waldfogel, professor of strategic management & entrepreneurship at the University of Minnesota.

• RESOURCES:
  • “How to Become a Truly Excellent Gift Giver,” by Eliza Brooke (Vox, 2022).
  • “How to Calculate a Holiday Tip for the Doorman,” by Ronda Kaysen (The New York Times, 2022).
  • “Least Favorite Gifts to Receive for Christmas in the United States in 2022, by Generation,” (Statista, 2022).
  • “(Not) Giving the Same Old Song and Dance: Givers’ Misguided Concerns About Thoughtfulness and Boringness Keep Them From Repeating Gifts,” by Julian Givi (Journal of Business Research, 2020).
  • “Does Anyone Really Buy the Giant Car Bows You See in Every Commercial?” by Aditi Shrikant (Vox, 2018).
  • “It’s the Motive That Counts: Perceived Sacrifice Motives and Gratitude in Romantic Relationships,” by Mariko L. Visserman, Francesca Righetti, Emily A. Impett, Dacher Keltner, and Paul A. M. Van Lange (Emotion, 2018).
  • “Why Certain Gifts Are Great to Give but Not to Get: A Framework for Understanding Errors in Gift Giving,” by Jeff Galak, Julian Givi, and Elanor F. Williams (Current Directions in Psychological Science, 2016).
  • “The Girl Who Gets Gifts From Birds,” by Katy Sewall (B.B.C. News, 2015).
  • “The Disappointing Gift: Dispositional and Situational Moderators of Emotional Expressions,” by Renée M. Tobin and William G. Graziano (Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 2011).
  • Scroogenomics: Why You Shouldn’t Buy Presents for the Holidays, by Joel Waldfogel (2009).
  • “The Deadweight Loss of Christmas,” by Joel Waldfogel (The American Economic Review, 1993).
  • United States Postal Service Employee Tipping and Gift-Receiving Policy.

• EXTRAS:
  • “Have a Very Homo Economicus Christmas,” by Freakonomics Radio (2012).