This Christmas, Give The Gift That Stops Giving! New Book SCROOGENOMICS

November 5, 2009

Scroogenomics Tells You Why You Should Think Twice Before Your Holiday Shopping Spree

Read the book SANTA doesn't want you to read!

"Waldfogel delivers a badly needed poke in the eye at holiday-time consumer madness, positing that not only is compulsory gift giving stressful and expensive, but it's economically unsound. . . . This lively, spot-on book may be the one gift that still makes sense to buy come Black Friday."-- Publishers Weekly

PRINCETON, N.J., Nov. 5 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In Targets and Home Depots around the country beginning to stock holiday lights, ornaments, and other seasonal décor, we can sense the winter holidays barreling towards us at a fast pace. So, given the troubled economy, the recession, a volatile stock market, home foreclosures, and unemployment, Princeton University Press and author and economist Joel Waldfogel are welcoming in the season with some holiday cheer: SCROOGENOMICS: Why You Shouldn't Buy Presents for the Holidays (Publication Date: November 18, 2009; $9.95) -- the last Christmas gift you'll ever need to buy!!

Leave it to an economist to sap the excitement from the time-honored custom of gift-giving. But let's stop for a second to consider the gifts we receive -- the rooster sweater from Grandma or the singing fish from Uncle Mike. How many of us receive gifts we like? How many of us give gifts not

knowing what recipients want? Did your cousin really look excited about that jumping alarm clock? Lively, informed, and written by a former Slate.com columnist, SCROOGENOMICS illustrates how

our holiday consumer spending generates vast amounts of economic waste -- to the shocking tune of 85 Billion Dollars each winter. Waldfogel provides solid explanations to show us why it's time to stop the madness and think twice before buying gifts for the holidays.

When we buy for ourselves, every dollar we spend produces at least a dollar in satisfaction, because we shop carefully and purchase items that we really want. Gift giving is different. We make less-informed choices, often maxing out on credit to buy gifts for others that they wouldn't buy (or want) for themselves, and leave recipients less than satisfied, creating what economists call a "deadweight loss." Waldfogel shows how this waste isn't confined to Americans -- most major economies share in this orgy of wealth destruction. While recognizing the difficulties of altering current trends, SCROOGENOMICS offers viable gift-giving alternatives.

About the Author:

Joel Waldfogel is the Ehrenkranz Professor and Chair of Business and Public Policy at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of The Tyranny of the Market and has been a columnist for Slate.

SCROOGENOMICS

Why You Shouldn't Buy Presents for the Holidays

Joel Waldfogel

Cloth $9.95, pounds Sterling 6.95 | ISBN: 978-0-691-14264-7

173 pp. | 4 x 6

Publication Date: November 18, 2009

*Audio edition also available November 18

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SOURCE Princeton University Press