London School of Economics - The gifts that don't start giving

An academic has urged people to curb the number of Christmas presents they buy. In a lecture at the London School of Economics, Joel Waldfogel, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania in the US and author of Scroogenomics: Why You Shouldn't Buy Presents for the Holidays, said that often people receiving presents do not value them as much as givers think. He told the audience that gift-giving should be limited to children and those they were in "frequent contact with". His research suggests recipients typically place 20 per cent less value on presents they receive than on items they buy for themselves.