Description: Stochastic approximation is a powerful tool for sequential estimation of zero points of a function. In this paper, this methodology is defined and is shown to be related to a broad class of credibility formulae derived for the Exponential Dispersion Family. The authors further consider a Location Dispersion Family which is rich enough and for which no simple credibility formula exists. For this case, a Generalized Sequential Credibility Formula is suggested and an optimal stepwise gain sequence is derived.

Description: The implementation of credibility theories is often hampered by the computational difficulties of evaluating integrals such as in Bayes' theorem. This paper presents a sampling-resampling technique which allows the assessment of the posterior distribution for arbitrary likelihood function and prior distribution. Actuarial Research Clearing House 1992, VOL. 1.