Expert warns traditional holiday shopping leads to economic waste

[grunder20]

its in the spur of the holidays. you cant just bail it out.

[bdeaner]

"Here are the features of the gift...: it is a voluntary transfer; an expectation of reciprocity; reciprocity is notionally open to discretion as to value and time; and is motivated by a desire for regard, over and above any gains from trade; regard is communicated by gift; personalized gift authenticates regard; gift is unpriced, often unpriceable; and gift establishes repetitive, self-enforcing bond, which facilitates trade." -- Avner Offer

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[bdeaner]

The economics of the gift are not reducible to their monetary value. A true gift economy is not an exchange of commodities, but well, an exchange of gifts, which by definition have a quality of gratuitousness. The excess of value lost in the exchange is exactly what would be expected within a gift economy type of exchange -- an expenditure of excess with no expectation of return. Look up "gift economy" and read more...