Public choice theory explains the incentives and behavior of the tens of thousands of government employees who work in the bowels of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Treasury, Office of Management and Budget, Economics and Statistics Administration, and countless other agencies who generate and massage spreadsheets day in and day out.

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"An insurer could contend that a subscription to 'Hang Gliding Monthly' is predictive of highly dangerous behavior, but I'm not buying that theory: The consumer may be getting the magazine for the pictures, " says Thomas Considine, New Jersey's commissioner of banking and insurance.

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And, Del Genio disputes a theory that rising carbon dioxide levels would have only a slight impact on global temperatures because the theory doesn't take into account real world cloud behavior.

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Varadhan, New York University, for his work in probability theory, especially his work on large deviations from expected random behavior which has revolutionized this field of study during the second half of the 20th century, and become a cornerstone of both pure and applied probability.

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And one of my favorites, the Volkswagen fun theory, inspired some positive social re-engineering by using play as the motivator to behavior change.

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The key conclusion of this theory is that transitory, short-term changes in income have little effect on consumer spending behavior.

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Because as economists have found and explained through signaling theory and conspicuous conservation, making your socially-focused choices visible can motivate long-term behavior change.

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In theory, equally qualified men and women should have similar opportunities for advancement and similar expectations for their behavior, but we know, in reality, this is simply not the case.

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