Most of us go out and try to find advice from people who we think ought at least have a chance of having our self interested heart. The most like most frequent person they asked advice from turned out to be the clerk who was in charge of receiving the forms that they had to fill out in order to become an employee. A, yes, it's true that have lots of incentives to go seek expert advice, but the evidence is they don't.
Richard Thaler of the U. of Chicago Graduate School of Business defends the idea of libertarian paternalism--how government might use the insights of behavioral economics to help citizens make better choices. Host Russ Roberts accepts the premise that individuals make imperfect choices but challenges Thaler on the likelihood that government, in practice, will improve matters. Along the way they discuss the design of Sweden's social security system, organ donations and whether professors at Cornell University are more or less like you and me.