Description: Interest rates steadily declining ever since the Volcker Fed tackled inflation in the early eighties. Ten years of stimulating monetary policy brought new lows. We should have braced ourselves for a return to neutrality, but that concept remains elusive. We will explore structural issues that have brought rates to these low levels and the potential impacts on the insurance business.

Description: Study Note Corner from Pension Section News, October 2000, Issue No. 44.

Description: The article has formulas for calculating the geometric return of a portfolio using the arithmetic return and the variance

Description: This paper addresses a study of surplus with the following goals in mind: 1. Determine surplus available for financing additional business, including new ventures. 2. Facilitate measurement of financial performance by line of business consistent with reasonable corporate goals. 3. Provide a mechanism for evaluating alternative strategies based on their estimated marginal effect on the company's ability to meet the above corporate goal. From Actuarial Research Clearing House ARCH 1988, Vol. 3

Description: This paper presents the application of the asset share technique of pricing to Home Equity Line of Credit insurance. The paper's objective is to provide useful tools when developing a new HELOC product including projections for marketing and underwriting, distinctions between desirable and undesirable product design features, and development of premium rate structures. From Actuarial Research Clearing House 1990, VOL. 2

Description: This paper presents a proof on the subject of uniqueness of interest rates in a borrowing/lending model for possible student use in undergraduate classes in the theory of interest. From Actuarial Research Clearing House 1993, VOL. 3.

Description: This paper demonstrates that the variance of the loss function for n-year term is greater than the sum of the variances of the loss functions for n-year pure endowment and n-year regular endowment plans. The result is true for both single premiums and annual premium plans.

Description: This paper presents a new methodology for obtaining fast algorithms and closed form solutions for pricing callable bonds in continuous time models. Results are directly applicable to regulatory scenario testing, immunization and market value accounting.

Description: In the context of insurance economics, the PH-transform is justified through some basic postulates on market premiums. In this paper the PH-transform is applied to the present value random variable in life insurance and annuities. It provides an alternative to the commonly used equivalence principle in life insurance and annuities premium calculation. This research project is sponsored by a joint AERF/CKER Grant of the Society of Actuaries.

Description: This report looks at closed form models or 'exact solutions' in which calculus produces 'simple' formulae. The conclusion is that for Gaussian interest rate models we can solve the problem of an American option provided the option holder behaviour can be described by a force of option exercise which is linear or quadratic in the state variables.