While researching his new book, So Much Stuff, Chip Colwell, Associate Research Professor of Anthropology, studied the purpose of gift giving in human history. "Why would people simply hand over something precious or valuable when they could use it themselves?" he asks. See his full article in The Conversation. 

https://theconversation.com/whats-the-point-of-giving-gifts-an-anthropologist-explains-this-ancient-part-of-being-human-219468

The Conversation, Dec. 12