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One year later, more than a hundred of the world’s leading economists and other social scientists working on decision sciences and risk management, along with business leaders, gathered for two days in Philadelphia. Any one of these individuals could have been the keynote speaker commanding a large audience at a conference. So in a way, this was like having one hundred rock stars playing continuously for two days at the same place—a super VIP concert.

We asked thirty of them to play the role of catalyst by presenting their most recent ideas. Guideline: Choose any subject that is close to your heart; be new and innovative. One constraint: Speak for no more than seven minutes. (Anyone who is familiar with academia knows that this is a nearly impossible task. Academics like to talk. . .)

Everybody played the game, and in addition to honoring Kunreuther for his significant contributions, this super VIP reunion was quite a success in terms of generating new ideas. Here I would like to thank all the participants at The Irrational Economist conference for sharing their views on the most pressing issues confronting the world today and on research priorities for our disciplines in the next ten years, most of which are discussed in this book. It was clear at the time of the conference that those ideas would reach far beyond the academic world—that they would impact many of us as citizens, businesspeople, and policy makers all over the world. And so, during the next twelve months, Paul Slovic and I continued what had already been a great voyage by taking on the role of editors (or should I say conductors?) to produce this book.

My first debt of gratitude is to Paul Slovic, Gail Loeb Kunreuther, and Richard Zeckhauser, who have been indispensible both in the preparation of conference and as sources of inspiration I often turned to when this book was still in progress. Paul and I worked together very closely to bring the book to fruition. It has been a very humbling experience to work with all the fine people who joined this adventure. I prevailed upon the authors to write innovative contributions and to be responsive to several rounds of comments and editing. For this reason, we all first and foremost share a collective vision in The Irrational Economist. I’m happy to say that the book conforms to its own thesis: By ensuring that new knowledge on decision sciences and behavioral economics is established, as well as translated into comprehensive and useful tools for nonspecialists, it can be employed by those in charge of making important decisions for society and, ultimately, help make a difference in the world. I would also like to thank Avinash Dixit and Daniel Kahneman at Princeton University, who, although they are not among the chapter authors, made inspiring contributions to the conference.

I am very grateful for the invaluable help we received on early versions of the book from Carol Heller at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, a most loyal and creative assistant.

Financial support for this conference provided by the Wharton School’s Dean’s Office and OPIM Department, as well as the Provost’s Office of the University of Pennsylvania, is gratefully acknowledged.

I’m grateful also to my friend Richard Smith, who since our first meeting at Davos a few years ago has provided important guidance to me, including the choice of publisher for this book. The team at PublicAffairs in New York has been fantastic throughout the process of ensuring that The Irrational Economist is a “good book about things that matter.” Most of all, on behalf of the chapter authors, our gratitude goes to Clive Priddle, editorial director at PublicAffairs, who, along with Peter Osnos, founder and editor-at-large, and Susan Weinberg, publisher, saw early on the potential of this book despite its somewhat atypical format. Thanks to the rest of the team at PublicAffairs as well: Christine Arden, Niki Papadopoulos, Melissa Raymond, Tessa Shanks, Jennifer Thompson, Michelle Welsh-Horst, and Brent