People who buy annuities, it turns out, live longer than people who don't, and not because the people who buy annuities are healthier to start with. The evidence suggests that an annuity's steady payout provides a little extra incentive to keep chugging along.
Steven LevittThe data don't lie: a Chicago street prostitute is more likely to have sex with a cop than to be arrested by one.
Steven LevittThe gulf between the information we proclaim & the information we know to be true is vast. In other words: we say one thing & do another.
Steven LevittAfter all, your chances of winning a lottery and of affecting an election are pretty similar. From a financial perspective, playing the lottery is a bad investment. But it's fun and relatively cheap: for the price of a ticket, you buy the right to fantasize how you'd spend the winnings - much as you get to fantasize that your vote will have some impact on policy.
Steven Levitt