Year: 2009
Type: article
Abstract: From an economic perspective, the practice of gift-giving in social rela-\ntionships makes little sense due to the ineffciencies that arise from commonly\nmismatched gifts and preferences. This paper addresses the frequency of non-\nmonetary gifts compared to more efficient cash transfers. While there is a vast\nliterature concentrated on this cultural phenomenon, we examine a model based\non the idea that the sentimental value of a gift can be measured in terms of\nthe time and energy the donor spent to select a desirable gift for the recipient.\nWe demonstrate that under a variety of circumstances, individuals choose to\ngive non-monetary gifts over cash in order to signal to the recipient that they\nexerted this effort.
Source: DukeSpace (Duke University)
Author: Lydia Yao
Institution: Duke University
Language: English
Subfield: Economics and Econometrics
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W119533661