[pay for policy] put your money where your mouth is

Fabulous piece by Chris Dillow on how much you’re prepared to pay to get a certain policy in place. Chris says: They therefore raise the cost of stupidity, and so should reduce its supply. He goes on to mention two reasons deferring to experts is flawed: 1. Many experts can be wrong, or at least contentious; 2. Democracy is not merely a mechanism for getting the "correct" decision. It's a way of getting a decision we can live with, tolerate. But if people have to pay to express a preference, won't they become more receptive to expert advice and (much more importantly) rationality and evidence? My comment is slightly at a tangent: My own field is consultancy and people must pay to get my opinion [unlike in blogging]. And I'm not cheap but I do deliver results and jealously guard that. My reputation is based on results day by day - I only have to make three misjudgements or mal-assessments in a week and I'm gone. Also, I tend to tune my opinion to the specific ideology of the client, blended as far as possible with “sound principles” – tailor made judgement, if you like.