"I'm not suggesting that Gates and Buffett aren't sincere," he said. "But Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, and Carnegie were responding to allegations of selfishness in the face of anti-trust issues."
Though Willer allowed that no real data exists to support that there is a spike in competitive altruism around the holidays, he offered some compelling anecdotal evidence.
"You know how there is always that one family member who really goes overboard and then you essentially give this weird second order gift of not trying to outdo them because it would ruin their Christmas," Willer said.
"Well, that's competitive altruism at work."
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