All I want for Christmas is... (Brylan/Flickr)

On today's Planet Money:

Economist Joel Waldfogel says giving gifts people don't want isn't just bad for the recipients, it's bad for the economy. According to his research, billions of dollars are wasted each year because of holiday shopping. A professor at Wharton, he has spent years surveying his students about the value of gifts they have received. Based on those surveys, Waldfogel says the spending others do for us produces about 20 percent less satisfaction than the spending we do for ourselves.

Despite the title of his book, Scroogenomics: Why You Shouldn't Buy Presents For The Holidays, Waldfogel says he doesn't want to end gift giving, in fact he enjoys it. He says he just wants us to think harder about who we are buying for and maybe choose a gift card over that reindeer sweater.

Download the podcast; or subscribe. Music: Tom Petty's "Christmas All Over Again." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/ Flickr.

By Daniel Costello

The car giant announced that starting in January it will fix or replace pedals in 3.8 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles to prevent runaway acceleration first blamed on improperly installed floor mats.

Toyota launched the voluntary recall one month after a 2009 Lexus ES 350 sped out of control on a San Diego highway, killing off-duty California Highway Patrol Officer Mark Saylor, his wife, Cleofe Lastrella; their daughter Mahala; and Chris Lastrella, Cleofe's brother.

Continue reading "Toyota Expands High-Profile Recall" >

By Daniel Costello

US consumer spending rose faster than incomes last month as Americans shrugged off fears about unemployment in favor of holiday shopping, raising hopes that consumers may help sustain the economic recovery.

Separately on Wednesday, data showed that new jobless claims fellto the lowest level in more than a year last week.

Personal consumption expenditures rose by 0.7 percent in October, reversing a drop the prior month. Incomes also rose last month, but at a slower pace than spending, climbing by 0.2 percent.

Continue reading "Consumers Get On Their Feet, Oil Could Reach $100" >

By David Kestenbaum

There is one silver lining to the recession. The global economic engine has slowed so much that it's pumping out less greenhouse gases. For the first time in decades, annual carbon-dioxide emissions are expected to drop this year.

Instead of growing at 3 percent or so, emissions are expected to shrink by 3 percent. The savings is roughly what you would get by taking all the cars in the U.S. off the road. Or shutting the whole planet down for three weeks.

Scientists have lots of ways of tracking global conditions, so I got to wondering if the financial crisis would leave its mark in the physical environment, maybe get encoded in some tree ring, or in a bubble of gas trapped in a layer of antarctic ice - something an alien civilization might discover in the distant future, point to and wonder what had happened.

It turns out there is a record of the Great Depression in ice cores because lead pollution declined.

But I emailed several climate scientists to ask if the current carbon dioxide reductions would leave a trace. The answer seems to be no....

Continue reading "Will Aliens Know About The Financial Crisis?" >

By Daniel Costello

The future of Saab was thrown into doubt on Tuesday after General Motors announced a consortium led by Swedish investors pulled out of talks to buy the premium car brand.

The deal's collapse marks the second failure by GM in less than two months to sell a money-losing brand. In October, Penske Automotive Group abandoned a deal to acquire GM's Saturn because of doubts about securing a long-term supply of vehicles.

In February, GM said it was seeking a buyer for Saab, Saturn and Hummer as part of a drive to pare down its product portfolio as it prepared for US government-funded Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. It now appears more likely than not that GM will shutter Saab and Saturn, and honor warrantees and other customer services through its remaining car units.

By Daniel Costello

Recent talk of a recovery in housing prices appears premature. Prices as a whole recorded an 8.9 percent drop in the third quarter, compared to a year earlier -- a big improvement from the 15 percent and 19 percent drops in the prior five quarters, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index, the leading measure of U.S. home prices. But the drop for the closely watched 20-city index, 9.4 percent, was worse than expected.

Las Vegas remains the most depressed market in the U.S. Prices have declined for 37 consecutive months, with a peak-to-trough reading of -55.4 percent. While Detroit has seen some positive movement in recent months, the market is still at only 73 percent of its 2000 value. This compares to regions such as Los Angeles, New York and Washington, which have maintained values of 70-80 percent above their 2000 averages, in spite of the market downturn.

By Daniel Costello

More than half of artists have seen their income fall in the last year, with nearly 18 percent of respondents reporting an income loss of more than 50 percent during the recent recession, according to a new study.

Incredibly, many artists also said they were inspired by the hard times, with some reporting they were happy to have more time to spend on their art because they were out of work. Three out of four of the 5,200 artists surveyed said that it was an inspiring time to be an artist, and 89 percent felt that artists could play a special role in strengthening their communities during turbulent economic times.

The report found the majority of artists work a second job (and about 20 percent work a third job) to finance their art; musicians and architects make more than painters and writers; and the majority have college degrees.

A press release goes up in the window of County Bank's Merced, Calif. branch announcing that state regulators have closed the bank, February 6, 2009. (Lisa James/AP)

By Caitlin Kenney

The FDIC's Deposit Insurance Fund, which protects bank deposits, fell below zero in the third quarter of this year. Fifty U.S. banks failed, taking the fund down to negative $8.2 billion. It's only the second time in the agency's history that it has slipped into the red.

Despite the dip, depositors remain protected. The government agency set aside extra reserves of $38.9 billion this year to cover estimated losses. Adding in that additional money, brings the Deposit Insurance Fund's reserves up to $30.7 billion. The FDIC also has the ability to tap into an emergency credit line from the Treasury Department if it needs to.

So far this year, the FDIC has seized and sold 124 banks. The list of "problem banks" stood at 552 at the end of September.

Continue reading "FDIC In The Red" >

By Daniel Costello

Broad and rapid government stimulus measures helped the global economy to avert the worst of the recent financial crisis, but the global economy remains highly vulnerable to new shocks, International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn said Monday. He said it is far too early to end fiscal interventions as an early exit may jeopardize a fragile recovery.

"The storm has passed. The worst has been averted," he said at the Confederation of British Industry annual conference in London Monday. With unemployment at historic levels, and still climbing, he said it's difficult to claim that the crisis is over and added global banking systems remain undercapitalized, weighed down by toxic assets and a rising number of non-performing loans.

The IMF is looking at a controversial plan for a tax on all financial transactions as a way of forcing banks to pay for any future bailouts. Critics of the plan say a punitive tax on the financial services sector could harm the recovery at a delicate time.

Continue reading "Morning Report: IMF Chief Backs More Stimulus; Early Holiday Sales Mixed" >

The impeached governor of Nigeria's oil-rich Bayelsa state leaves the Federal High Court in Lagos escorted by members of the country's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. January, 2006. (Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP/Getty Images)

On today's Planet Money:

Nuhu Ribadu spent years fighting corruption in Nigeria. From his early days in the Nigerian police force to his later years as head of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ribadu battled the corruption that strangled his country's economic growth. He had some success for a while, but after two attempts on his life, he was forced to leave his home country and come to the United States. He shares the stories of his struggle and says he hasn't given up yet.

Download the podcast; or subscribe. Music: TV On The Radio's "Staring At The Sun." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook/ Flickr.