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@Mr_Bump
Interesting thread.
An article by Frank Berto a few years back in Bicyle Quarterly suggests a 15% tyre deflection as being the ideal when riding (with whatever load) Along with that ensuring you have the correct tyre pressures front & rear taking into account the way you are loaded is fairly important too.
There is a tyre pressure calc here http://www.biketinker.com/2010/bike-resources/optimal-tire-pressure-for-bicycles/ that takes into account tyre size, total weight(rider/load & bike) & load distribution
it's a very handy tool to optimise your pressures and one that you can store all your bikes tyres on so you can make easy comparisons/adjustments taking into account varying loads etc.
As per the diagram below (& the excel sheet per the link) more load/mass is over the rear tyre (hence rear tyres wear faster) so running a wider tyre at the rear makes sense in any case.
According to the venerable Sheldon Brown & others having a wider front tyre gives you a little bit more shock absorbancy & a bit better traction into corners