A paradox at the heart of gift-giving

Ooo! Lovely! Honest... A FORMER editor of this newspaper once said that "a gift is a sale at a price of zero". In strict monetary terms this is true. But most people do expect to be paid for gifts, albeit in the non-monetary currency known as "gratitude". This has many denominations: words of appreciation, hugs and kisses and, particularly, smiles. The wider point our ex-editor was making, though, is pertinent. A gift will cause a misallocation of resources if the recipient would have preferred ...