The “deadweight loss of Christmas” is the loss that occurs when individuals make choices on behalf of others that do not match the needs or the value of the items they buy. In this respect, if a person buys a Christmas gift that the receiver finds useless, the money is economically lost. At the same time, the gifts may have inflated cost since the businessmen tend to hike prices during holidays when demand for certain goods rises rapidly. Typically, the “deadweight loss of Christmas” affects extended family members who do not have a close contact with the rest of the members and, therefore, end up buying “irrelevant” Christmas presents. From this perspective, the “deadweight weigh of Christmas” advocate that people’s personal choices are the best since they match the need, value, and prices appropriately.
The following is a list of the gift that I received from various persons last year
It is evident that I would have paid more for the Bose Sound True Headphones. That is because I did not have any of such high quality before. However, that came after I used it for the first time to know how powerful the headphones are in comparison to the rest. Since it was a holiday, I would have paid even more for the gate passes to recreational parks with my friends. I would also incur some expenses on other types of recreation with family members that would also require a lot of money. The same case applies for the shopping voucher because I also had to buy presents and other necessities for friends and my family.
Some of the gifts had little value to me. I have had Kindle readers before and, therefore, although it is good to have several brands, I would buy one for lesser money since their purpose is quite limited to me. I do not know why my friend thought that I needed an expensive one when he knew that I had a relatively new one already. I believe it is not necessary to buy electronics endlessly simply because there are new fashions of the same. Nevertheless, since my laptop was getting old, I would have bought one but at a cheaper prices since I use them for very basic purposes. Technically, I use my mobile phones more often than the laptop except when in school. I also received pieces of clothes worth $200. I cannot pay for them since they are not my taste and do not even fit me properly. I had to donate them albeit secretly.
On the other side, I also exchanged gifts with a family member whereby I bought a Kindle for my little sister after considering several factors. She had an old model that had developed some problems. Therefore, it was logical that she would need a replacement before rejoining school. I believed that she would appreciate it and consequently, there would be no the deadweight loss of Christmas.
