Stephen King: Santa gives and gives but these big kids tire of new toys easily

Gordon never seemed to get many presents and really, really wanted the game 'No More Boom and Bust'

Santa Claus did his bit but were all the children happy? As they woke up on Christmas morning, did they find what they wanted at the end of their beds? Alan, who lives in Washington, had been hoping for a more successful policy tool. The last one he had been given – two years ago – hadn't been working very well. The box had promised lots of "Interest Rate Action" – and, initially, the promise was met – but the toy hadn't been as interesting as he'd hoped. He'd also found that the batteries kept going flat. This time, he wanted something with a bit more fizz. How about a monetary printing press? That seemed like a good idea. Or maybe he should get a joint present with George, his latest best friend – a printing press combined with some fiscal fireworks, perhaps.

George himself had stopped talking to Paul and was now spending a lot more time with John (for some reason, Ringo wasn't involved). George was well aware that he had outgrown the present he'd been given when he'd first moved to his new house. No longer was the "Strong Dollar Policy" game offering the thrills that he'd enjoyed with Paul over the last few years. Glancing through the toy catalogue, George had spotted a new game called "Depreciation". John told him that this was a really exciting new game. Paul didn't agree. So Paul was cast aside.

George was also hoping for some new military toys. A few new aeroplanes, perhaps some tanks, maybe a few soldiers. With these, he would be better able to play his new "Battleground" electronic warfare game. The aim of the game wasn't just to catch the baddies: George also needed to collect points. As he understood it, the lower the level of oil prices, the higher the number of points. Play the game well, and George would hope to amass loads of points and possibly win an economic bonus. Play badly, however, and he could end up losing a political life.

Gordon – who often looked on with envy at Alan's and George's toy collections – never seemed to get many presents himself. He preferred to give presents to everyone else. Nevertheless, he was hoping that Santa would put a couple of highly desirable gifts in his stocking. He really, REALLY, wanted the new game called "No More Boom and Bust", which promised to be a "true intellectual challenge for young and old alike". His good friend Eddie had tried to explain to him on a number of occasions how the rules worked but he still wasn't that sure. Nigel, the old school bully, used to play the game very well in the late-1980s and had been school champion for a number of years but even he had finally succumbed to the intricacies of this most challenging of pursuits.

Gordon was also keen on the "No Tax Shortfall" puzzle. Admittedly, this was not the most thrilling of items on sale at the toy shop but Gordon knew that, without it, he would not be able to add to the set of "Spend, Spend, Spend" games that he'd collected over the last few years.

Meanwhile, Tony, the boy next door, had been hoping that Santa would finally provide him with a membership card for the "Euro Club", a new version of the old school exchange trip with simplified rules: no longer would the schoolchildren have to change their money at the border. Tony had sent letters to Lapland on countless occasions asking Santa for a membership card but, for some reason, the card never came. He was never quite sure, but he suspected that Gordon had been secretly telling Santa that Tony and his other British friends didn't meet the membership rules as outlined in the Five Economic Tests.

Eddie and his younger brother Mervyn were also hoping for a few Christmas treats from Santa. Over the last 12 months, both of them had been playing "Housing Casino", a game of chance. Now they were hoping to get the new, upgraded, version that allowed them not only to push prices higher but also to stop them falling too far if there was a sudden reversal. The new version required more skill but the stakes were higher. If things went wrong, Eddie and Mervyn would have to explain themselves to a very angry Gordon – after all, he'd lent them the game in the first place and he would be very unhappy if it came back in a state of disrepair.

Then there was Eddie's pen pal in Frankfurt. Wim had been playing his "Inflation Buster" game for a number of years. At one point, all his friends wanted to join in. Now, though, they were beginning to drift away. The company that had first made "Inflation Buster" – the Bundesbank – was a mere shadow of its former self and no longer seemed to be quite so interested in producing the game. In fact, sales in Germany were very depressed and there seemed to be a growing interest in other games. One, a game that adults and children could all play, was called "Go For Growth" – a real novelty in Germany. The other – strictly for adults and older children only given its horrifying content – was called "Death to Deflation".

In fact, as Santa had made the rounds, he'd noted that "Death to Deflation" seemed to be an increasingly popular game. The game had been in production for a long time – at least since the 1930s – but hardly anyone had been interested in it from the 1950s through to the 1990s. Indeed, at one stage, the game had become a real collector's item and very few children had ever requested it. Most of them had probably never heard of it.

Santa, though, had been around for quite a while. He knew how games had come into fashion and gone out of fashion at the drop of a hat. Why, it was only a few years ago that all the children across Europe were insistent on having "Inflation Buster". Now it seemed as though they were regretting it. Their parents – Herr Kohl and M. Mitterrand – had believed that "Inflation Buster" would always prove to be a popular game. Seemingly, though, this no longer seemed to be the case. Scientists had discovered that the game had been associated with all sorts of unanticipated nasty side effects – stunted growth, an inability to compete in an effective manner – and were beginning to recommend the introduction of new games with fewer risks to health. One potential candidate was "New Inflation Target", an easier game to play than "Inflation Buster", which was likely to prove more popular with the relatives.

So, did the children get what they wanted? Well, Santa is a kind old soul and is not one to let the children down. So Alan, George, Gordon, Eddie, Mervyn and Wim are all no doubt busily reading through the instruction books, putting in the batteries, loading the software on to their PCs. But, as any parent knows, the promises made by toy manufacturers are not always met. The games may look great but, like so many other toys, they might simply end up discarded in a dark corner of the nursery.

Stephen King is managing director of economics at HSBC.

stephen.king@hsbcib.com