Don't expand empty [paths] so later interpolation can do the right thing.
Example:
[paths]
default =
default-push = %(default)s
#!/bin/sh
mkdir a
cd a
hg init
echo a > a
hg add a
hg commit -m test -d '0 0'
# Default operation
hg clone . ../b
cd ../b
cat a
hg verify
# No update
hg clone -U . ../c
cd ../c
cat a
hg verify
# Default destination
mkdir ../d
cd ../d
hg clone ../a
cd a
hg cat a