So, I will close this out for the semester with a cheery thought from an economist looking at the marginal utility of Christmas (or Hanukkah) gift giving. Clearly, it is not a rational activity. Nor is much of how consumers behave. That’s the fatal flaw with looking at strictly economic analyses–we’re just not rational actors.

In the meantime, I thank you all for being rational classmates, and bringing interesting and diverse views to the table. Finally, on behalf of corporations everywhere (even though they are not “real people”), try to look with a little less anger and more rationality at how a corp behaves–they aren’t bringing personal motivations to the table!

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