Description: Term products exhibit a wide range of behavior as policyholders can elect different term periods and conversion options. While term products have been around for decades, it's only recently that longer level term products are reaching the end of the level term period. Term conversions have historically been an afterthought and are rarely modeled. Discuss the use of predictive modeling techniques such as LASSO regression and cross-validation to build models for level term lapses and post-level term shock lapses, as well as the extrapolation of experience for shorter term products to longer term products (e.g., extrapolating 20-year term experience and applying to 30-year term). Explore the use of traditional techniques to develop term conversion rates and a framework for modeling the assumption. Challenges and limitations of setting lapse and conversion rates will be discussed. By attending the session, you will: - Understand the complexities of term policyholder behavior. - Understand the challenges in developing and implementing assumptions for lapses and conversions. - Understand the application of traditional and predictive modeling techniques for term policyholder behavior.

Description: Insurance carriers today must balance a multitude of factors to remain relevant and innovate- -process improvements and efficiency (automated or traditional); -customer experience (less intrusive, more data); -distribution (aging traditional, product focus, emerging opportunities); and -mortality. While these factors are not new, true innovation in these areas require a convergence of engagement among actuaries, underwriters and data scientists to determine the specific pain points and appreciate both the benefits and consequences of various paths. Explore examples of how best to approach these topics, engage different disciplines, avoid pitfalls and ensure a holistic view. Real life examples and lessons learned will be shared during this session.

Description: This report proposes a methodology to isolate crop yield improvement due to technological change and favorable and unfavorable weather.

Description: Data science and predictive analytics are rapidly growing fields and the tools are evolving at a formidable pace. The actuary who wants to be most effective will most likely have to learn at least the basics of more than one programming language, such as R, Python, or Julia, depending on the problem at hand. The Jupyter Notebook App allows you to create interactive notebook documents that are relatively language agnostic, so you only need to learn a single integrated development environment. More importantly, Jupyter Notebooks allows you to easily combine input (code), output (including visualizations), and documentation in a single, shareable, document. Learn how to make better use of your time with these very useful notebooks. This demonstration-based talk will also cover JupyterLab, the next generation of notebooks.

Description: Overview of regularization and least angle regression approaches.

Description: The well-known examples of predictive modeling “successes” are numerous. Perhaps less widely recognized is the myriad of ways in which a predictive model can fail to perform as expected, often due to misconceptions or misrepresentations on the part of the analyst. This article, which is intended for a general actuarial audience, focuses on three such pitfalls. By understanding these three common pitfalls, readers may guard against them within their own work, teams, and organizations.

Description: The advent of machine learning algorithms has taken predictive analytics and risk scoring to a new level. From gradient boosting machines to k-nearest neighbors regression, the use of these techniques has gained significant traction in healthcare - including health systems like the Cleveland Clinic. This session will discuss the use of predictive analytics to go beyond just assessing the risk of a patient, and instead focus on prescribing a specific intervention of care. In practice, the recommendation of a care plan goes beyond just attributing a score to a patient. It provides physicians and care coordinators the most probabilistic options - e.g. referral to social worker, depression screening, weight-loss program - for positively impacting a patient's future healthcare outcome.

Description: The Delphi method is a non-quantitative forecasting approach that is most useful when other forecasting techniques appear to have limited value. The Society of Actuaries (SOA) has had some impressive results from Delphi studies (even quoted in the Wall Street Journal for their uncanny accuracy on long-range predictions). Attend this session to learn about this effective, yet underutilized method of leveraging the wisdom of crowds.

Description: Editorial for the December 2019 print edition of Predictive Analytics & Futurism newsletter describing the large number of informational resources available to PAF Section members.

Description: There is a growing amount of “off-balance sheet” talent in the US and Global workforce. This spans from consultants and contractors, to gig workers and the crowd (both curated crowd and open crowd). One such example is Uber and Lyft workers. Insurance companies and the Actuarial profession have started to experiment with platforms such as Kaggle and this will continue to grow and evolve. This article explores these new sources of talent for companies, the implications to the actuarial function, benefits and challenges of the evolving workforce.