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The Donation-Payment Gift Card Concept: how to give twice with one card

R. Crane·J. V. Escobar-Sotomayor·D. Sornette
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Abstract

Standard economic theory, starting with Adam Smith's invisible hand, holds that those who trade for their own selfish motives of maximizing their private preferences may contribute more to the public wealth than those who claim altruistic motives. Under restrictive conditions, this has been shown to result from a self-organizing mechanism acting at the global system level, which ensures that optimal allocation of resources derives from competition within the rule of law. In a nutshell, according to this view, being competitively selfish adds value for all. But to what degree can doing good add competitive value to products and services? We propose the creation of the Donation-Payment card as a solution to the legal and moral issues plaguing the emerging anonymous, direct-to-consumer, stored-value prepaid (SVP) card market. Our proposal to redirect millions of dollars whose status is in conflict not only improves society and empowers people, but also represents the best free-market solution to the SVP-Cards industry. The Donation-Payment card kills two birds with one stone by marrying business interests with societal benefits. In addition, think of the state of mind of a grand-parent giving a SVP-card to a grand-child, who also feels like "killing two birds with one stone" or should we say more aptly feels like "giving twice with one card".

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R. Crane, J. V. Escobar-Sotomayor, D. Sornette. 2005-10-09. The Donation-Payment Gift Card Concept: how to give twice with one card. https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0510068

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