The basic point of the book is very simple, and made already in the very beginning of the book: people value the presents they receive significantly less than their purchase price, thereby creating economic "deadweight loss".
For instance, if a person receives a piece of clothing as a present, which the giver purchased for 100 euros, and for which the recipient him/herself would have paid only 60 euros, there is an economic loss of 40 euros. If the recipient hates the piece of clothing and would have not purchased it for any price, the loss is 100 euros.
According to surveys the author has conducted in multiple countries, recipients usually value the presents they receive, on average, to about 80-90% of their purchase price. Multiply this with the value of presents purchased every year around the world, and the bill of "deadweight loss" is formidable.
As a solution, the authors recommends basically gift cards and other "cash equivalents" (and cash in cases in which does not carry stigma) so as to allow the recipient to exercise his/her own valuation judgments.
Was it good?
With regard to its basic point, the book is just superb! It organizes analytically a phenomenon - gift giving - and sheds new and refreshing light on it.
However, the basic point is stated already in the very beginning of the book, making the rest of the book feel like "mandatory pages to make a proper book". This is not to say that the rest of the book would be totally without interesting arguments, but that the core contents of the rest of the book could have squeezed into 10% of their current extent without losing much relevant content.
The main take-away for me?
After having read this book, I most certainly think more carefully about what I give to others as gifts - and most likely will favor even more gift cards and similar "cash equivalents", in order to avoid creating "deadweight loss" myself.
An interesting thought is also giving "through" someone or some organization, such as giving donations and then giving this (already made) donation as a gift. The book has some nice economic argumentation to support this train of thought (discussion about luxury, necessity and inferior goods).
Who should read the book?
Well, everyone - I mean, everyone gives gifts, and more or less everyone could do this in a more mindful manner.
The book on Amazon.com: Scroogenomics
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