Gill's scholarship on the economics of tipping was featured in a New York Times opinion piece entitled "Welcome to the New Economics of Tipping." He was quoted as appreciating the graciousness of gratuities and being worried about how technology is deteriorating our innate sense of thanksgiving (to reference an upcoming holiday).
Anthony Gill, a professor of political economy at the University of Washington, wrote a three-part series on the economics of tipping for the American Institute for Economic Research. He told me that customers resent being told that they will get worse service if they don’t tip. He said he appreciates the “graciousness” of the tipping tradition. “Technology is chipping away at this institution that I have loved,” he said. I see his point, although traditional tipping isn’t always gracious. Customers can behave very badly when all the tipping power is in their hands.