Abstracts » Economics

The deadweight loss of Christmas: comment

Article Abstract:

Research was conducted to reestimate the deadweight loss of gift-giving at Christmas in a real random nth price auction. Joel Waldfogel found a welfare loss with gifts valued at 87% of the cost while Sara Solnick and David Hemenway found a welfare gain with gifts valued at 214% of the actual cost. Results indicate that in-kind transfers do not always lead to destroyed value but to welfare gains. However, these welfare gains are lower than what Solnick and Hemenway proposed.

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The deadweight loss of Christmas: reply

Article Abstract:

John A. List and Jason F. Shogren have attempted to create new ways to measure the deadweight loss from gift-giving at Christmas. By using an auction, they found sufficient evidence to back their claim that Christmas gift-giving yields a welfare gain ranging from 21% to 35%. Although their study was interesting, there are reasons to doubt that the gift-giving is an effective means of resources allocation.

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Calibration of the difference between actual and hypothetical valuations in a field experiment

Article Abstract:

Calibration of hypothetical and actual bidding proved to be desirable and context-specific. A field experiment that utilized market goods that possess characteristics beyond the norm but remain deliverable revealed a consistency between bidding behavior and theory. The average calibration factor for the auction without the goods is less severe than for the auction with other goods.

Consumer Behavior, Decision-making, Decision making

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