Although I do consider myself to be rather idiotic, I much prefer the second argument. In reality, it's probably a combination of the two. Kahneman is right though; most people are idiots. The problem is that the level of idiocy in anyone taking the time to read his book (a.k.a. his target audience) is generally far removed from the general populace. I know you're condensing things considerably, but I'm liking Ariely more and more, and Kahneman less and less. Thanks for the thread. :)This book is basically the argument "you do things that don't make economic sense because you're an idiot." Other books are basically the argument "economics doesn't make sense because we have emotions."
Kahneman will make an argument... Ariely will make an argument...