Who Gives the Worst Christmas Gifts? Scientists Have Found a Definitive Answer msn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from msn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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Feeling bad about the way the pandemic is disrupting your Christmas arrangements? Cheer up, I have good news – of a sort. Keep reading and I’ll convince you Christmas has become so “problematic” you’re probably better off not bothering this year.
A bad-to-non-existent festive season is the perfect way to top off this horrible year, leaving us confident 2021 couldn’t possibly be worse. After this, it’s all upside.
More than $400 million unwanted presents were given in Christmas 2018, according to a study.
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With nowhere to go and nothing better to do, I’ve been searching the internet for ways of improving on the Joy of Christmas. Having consulted the earnest academic experts, I’ve realised Christmas is a minefield of impossible dreams, dashed expectations, overspending, overindulgence and waste, all of it threatened by the risk of a family fight.
The Deadweight Loss of Minimum Wage Hikes
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Has boosting the U.S. minimum wage from $4.25 per hour in 1994 to today s $7.25 per hour helped or hurt the U.S. economy?
To answer this question, we ll be tapping the U.S. Census Bureau s data on the incomes earned by 15 to 24 year old Americans in 1994 and 2011 (which until this September represents the most recent year for which this data is available). Specifically, we ll be considering the size of the Age 15-24 population, the number of 15-24 year olds with incomes and, of course, the federal minimum wage that applied in each of those years.
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When Parag Waknis lived in the United States, he would give friends and colleagues the same gift every year: a voucher. Often derided for their lack of originality and thoughtfulness, these much-maligned rectangles of plastic are some economists’ perfect gift: something that technically fulfills the criteria of a present while also giving the recipient the freedom to choose their own gift. “I was completely convinced that cash was the way to go,” Waknis says.
After moving to India in 2018 to become an associate professor of economics at Ambedkar University Delhi, Waknis found himself under pressure to give gifts that show how well he knows the recipient. His carefree days of doling out gift cards no matter the occasion are increasingly a thing of the past. Yet Waknis can’t shake the thought that there is a glaring economic flaw with gift giving. Sometimes, recipients just don’t like what they get.
Opinion: The risks and rewards of Christmas gift-giving theglobeandmail.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from theglobeandmail.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.