The otherwise astute Robert Shiller seems to think so. In an NYT column he notes the poor state of financial literacy among the public and argues that this could be improved by having the government subsidize financial counseling.
This one seems questionable to me. I argued with many financial advisers who told people that the stock market was the best place to put their money in the 90s stock bubble and who urged people to buy homes in bubble-inflated markets in this decade. I would hate to see taxpayer dollars being used to push this bad advice on innocent people -- maybe if we could make the advisers personally liable for really bad advice.....
Robert Shiller is famous for having warned of both the stock and housing bubbles almost as early I did. He should know better.
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