Description: This work investigates the use of a statistical approach to calculate the incurred but not reported IBNR reserve directly. This allows for the reserve to be estimated in one step, without completion factors, and it provides a confidence interval around the estimate of IBNR as well.

Description: In physics and engineering education, Fermi problems require solutions based on good approximate calculations with little or no actual data, involving making justified guesses and deducing bounds without using sophisticated tools. The idea of Fermi problems are of particular relevance to today's actuaries, as pricing, reserving, and financial reporting involve more and more complex stochastic components. The paper discusses some approximate solutions developed in academia in the spirit of Fermi problems.

Description: Explores the open vs. closed systems debate with regards to actuarial modeling and exposes the over-simplification. Valuable for anyone who uses models.

Description: The article describes the key components of actuarial model, leading practices in designing them, and characteristics of well-built models.

Description: Presentation from the 41st Actuarial Research Conference with the main topic of analyzing the life insurance industry.

Description: Summary of NAIC's Winter National Meeting

Description: Provides a metric based on the concept of "entropy" from information theory/signal processing, for modifying a stochastic scenario set to meet pre-defined targets on average across the set. Explains the concept and develops it in simple examples. Illustrates why an optimal adjustment to the scenario set is one that maximizes entropy. Provides guidelines to limit use of the technique appropriately and avoid invalid application of the tool.

Description: A paper entitled “A Regime-Switching Model of Long-Term Stock Returns” appears in the April 2001 issue of the North American Actuarial Journal. In it, Dr. Mary Hardy describes a model for future equity returns and some reasons why that model might better reflect real equity price movements than the often-used lognormal model. The purpose of this article is to apply a two-regime model to variable annnuity GMDB pricing and compare the results to those from a lognormal model.

Description: This presentation introduces the Threshold Life Table as a solution to the problem of modeling mortality for extreme ages. This method is based on extreme value theory, and it avoids the need to extrapolate beyond an arbitrary age. This method produces an omega, the highest attainable age, without it being chosen arbitrarily.