#238: Why Economists Hate Gifts

Giving and receiving gifts can be a joyful thing — unless you're an economist. All those books that will never be read and ties that will never be worn are hugely inefficient.To investigate a possible solution, we went to a seventh-grade classroom at a public school in Brooklyn.The students were already familiar with the issue."This is kind of silly, but I got a Power Ranger," Tadre Jones said. "I was grateful, but I didn't really like it."So we had no trouble conscripting 10 kids to participate in an economic experiment that aimed to improve the efficiency of gift giving.