Slides from a session at the Investment Symposium held on March 22–23, 2010 in New York, NY. Discussion of the global economic and life insurance outlook.

The paper considers the impact of U.K. defined benefit DB pension plan funding and investment on the U.K. economy. It suggests that many conventional theories are based on incomplete or inconsistent economics. The conclusion of the paper is that the most significant impact of pension funds on the U.K. economy relates to the costs imposed by extreme mismatching between their financial assets and liabilities. The author argues that such risks can, in essence, crowd out entrepreneurial risk. He asserts that the U.K. economy would gain from greater focus on the matching of these assets and liabilities, and that the best way to stimulate enterprise is by eliminating the frictional costs in the economy arising from current practices.

Slides from a session at the Investment Symposium held on April 11-12, 2011, in New York, NY. Discussion of the US and global economic outlook.

Slides from a session at the Society of Actuaries 2010 Life & Annuity Symposium held in May 2010 in Tampa, FL Discussion of recent economic factors and the impact they have had on life insurance company sales, product mix, and profitability. Some near term forecasts of those factors and impacts is also provided.

Slides from a session at the Society of Actuaries 2010 Life & Annuity Symposium held in May 2010 in Tampa, FL Discussion of recent economic factors and the impact they have had on life insurance company sales, product mix, and profitability. Some near term forecasts of those factors and impacts is also provided.

Evan Borisenko looks at previous challenging environments for the life insurance industry, such as the a period of severe stagnation in the 1930s, the increased inflation in the 1980s and a catastrophe like the Spanish influenza after the World War I. Evan explains that "while each event described above challenged the life insurance industry in a unique way, each event stimulated an equally unique solution." The article concludes that we "fight to repeat history" in a way that we as actuaries should be able to propose unique solutions with when faced with crisis in the future.

It is a time of significant change in the health care industry. The outlook for health care spending and coverage is uncertain, with the lingering effects of the recession still impacting the economy and continuing implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) among the largest influences. The Office of the Actuary in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will present the findings from its latest annual report on national health spending projections, with projections of spending through 2022 and perspectives on the impact of the ACA; the ongoing effects of the economic recession on health care spending; and trends for private payers and public programs, including projections of Medicare and Medicaid.

This working paper discusses the risks of investing in stocks in public pension funds.

Slides from a session at the Investment Symposium held on March 22–23, 2010 in New York, NY. A review of recent and projected Federal fiscal and monetary policy and the impact on insurance company investment portfolio management and ratings agencies view of the insurance industry

This paper attempts to fill the gap in literature by empirically assessing the adequacy of the supply of bonds, quantifying the price impact, gauging the actuarial cost, and proposing appropriate government policy measures.