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 Weeklyreviews
Waldfogel assesses holiday gift giving through the lens of economics tenets such as opportunity cost and deadweight loss. The result is a short but engaging manifesto on the inefficiency of the tradition, concluding with several solutions to increase satisfaction for both givers and receivers. Although his own suggestions mandate that you not buy this book for someone who wanted something else, fans of Freakonomics and The Economic Naturalist may love it.
— Library Journalendorsements
Joel Waldfogel is one of the smartest and funniest economists on the planet. I think of him every time I start to unwrap a present. Buy SCROOGENOMICS for your friends and family. It makes the perfect Christmas gift.
— Ian Ayres, author of Super Crunchers: Why Thinking-by-Numbers Is the New Way to Be SmartSCROOGENOMICS is a very well-written and entertaining read.
— Diane Coyle, author of The Soulful Science: What Economists Really Do and Why It Matters