This is the period to be nice, to give away things under the pretense of pleasing people, while many remain disappointed. The average British adult spent around £550 ($667) on gifts in 2021, according to a survey. But an end-of-holiday tally by Ian Stewart of Deloitte, a consultancy, showed that junk totaled £3bn of the £25bn spend.
Although many see Christmas as a time of generosity and joy, others see it as loss. A small number study its inefficiency.
Joel Waldfogel of the University of Minnesota says that money spent on another person provides about 85% of the benefit of money they spend on themselves.
Although gift-giving may make some people happy, it's "a bad way to allocate resources," he says.
So with figures, facts and calculations donate cash.