Description: This is a discussion of indexed coverages for individual contracts. It covers such topics as the history of indexed coverage in the U.S. and Canada and other countries and the possibilities for the ideal fully-indexed permanent life insurance and disability income plans.

Description: Table featured in the Futures Research Project Provides Insight into Tomorrow's Economic Environment article in The Actuary. Please see the SOA Website research section for the full report on the Delphi Study of Economic Variables. These variables are 1. Change in CPI, 2. 10 Year T-Bill rates, 3. S&P500 rate of return and 4. Corporate Baa Bond Yields.

Description: This is a group of reports on a future outlook study, mortality investigation on individual lives, and legislative matters of interest to actuaries.

Description: The author discusses the review of a recent 2001 Wall Street Journal’s semiannual survey of economists’ forecasts, starting by asking if there is a simple way to summarize the results and to extract a consensus forecast, and from this extraction, determine when an individual forecast is significantly different from that of the consensus.This article is reprinted with permission. It last ran in the Jan. 10, 2001 issue of The La Jolla Economics newsletter.

Description: Presented at May 2000 Spring Meeting. Experience on group and individual disability insurance has been historically sensitive to economic and demographic trends. In recent years, for example, the restructuring of the health care industry has caused major upheaval for many disability for many disability insurers. The panelists in this session speak in general terms about a variety of trends, such as the stock market, unemployment rates, interest rates, and the aging of the baby boom generation. They then turn specifically to the disability insurance market and speculate on how these trends may affect financial results.

Description: After a very challenging year, actuaries need to look back and consider the lessons learned. Have we returned to where we were, or have we moved on to a new norm? What does the COVID-19 pandemic market data tell us that will help us to prepare for future global crises?

Description: The article makes reference to how the intervention by government agencies and institutions into the financial marketplace are creating distortions. This artificial tampering into market mechanisms will likely result in major financial dislocations down the road as natural economic forces (coined by the term "invisible hand") eventually are allowed to come into play.

Description: This paper examines the development of inflation and the dilemma the life insurance business faces. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1958, Vol. 10, No. 28.

Description: Abstract: A model for analyzing the probability and severity of default of sovereign entities and banks. The methodology analyzes the risks inherent in the investment of debt of sovereign governments and large financial institutions side-by-side, taking into consideration macroeconomic interactions among the sovereign fiscal and monetary authorities, the financial institutions, and the real economy. The signature aspect of the methodology is that it adapts a Merton-style default model to use explicit measures of sovereign assets and asset volatility.

Description: In this article, the authors describe the flaws in our current determination of the Consumer Price Index CPI and other economic indicators, and propose a series of refinements for improving the CPI calculations. The article emphasizes the importance of accuracy, given the significant influence on business and investment policies, psychological effect on the marketplace, as well as on consumer confidence, and the direct impact on Social Security increases and other benefit plans.