Suppose a chess novice were to play against an experienced player. Predictably, the novice would lose precisely because he made inferior choices—choices that could easily be improved by some helpful hints. In many areas, ordinary consumers are novices, interacting in a world inhabited by experienced professionals trying to sell them things. More broadly, how well people choose is an empirical question, one whose answer is likely to vary across domains. Generally, people make good choices in contexts in which they have lots of experience, good information, and prompt feedback—say, choosing
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