Takes All Kinds

Over at Marginal Revolution Alex Tabarrok posted on gift giving. Economists have problems with the concept--is there utility in exchanging gifts, etc. etc.. Anyway, I commented. Going back to read comments, I find that Virginia Postrel (who blogs and who has donated a kidney to an acquaintance) finds that O'Henry's "Gift of the Magi" (the wife cuts her hair to give husband a watch chain, husband sells his watch to give wife something--headband?--for her hair) a cruel story.