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: This presentation is a panel discussion from the 1991 Annual Meeting of the Society of Actuaries, held October 20-23 in Toronto. The panelists discuss the outlook for the economy for the remainder of the year through 1992, covering the economies of both the United States and Canada, with an emphasis on the United States. With the background of recent world events, they discuss the recent recession and where interest rates are headed, unemployment rates, inflation, and other economic indicators. Discussion from participants is included. From the Record of Society of Actuaries, Volume 17, No. 4A.

Description: Presenter examines federal and state efforts at parity in the area of mental health insurance. From the Record of the Society of Actuaries, Vol. 24, No. 2.

Description: Latin America has acquired an economically strategic importance in the process of globalization that it did not have a decade ago. The region has attracted significant attention and investment by the international insurance industry. This article explores some issues related to the growth in supply of insurance companies capacity, the relatively slower pace of growth in consumer demand for their products, and the factors that companies can identify in forming their strategies to achieve their objectives.

Description: An interview with Dawn Helwig on developments in the Long Term Care market.

Description: This article discusses capital market cycles, specifically considering whether or not 2008 was a good time to buy. It concludes that “stocks have likely only recently entered the buying opportunity range on an aggregate basis. However, from a psychological and risk management perspective, we should strongly consider that stock prices will revert beyond the mean for many years, perhaps even decades, before they get better.”

Description: This article summarizes a recent revenue ruling concerning the insurance company qualification of an affiliate that reinsures retiree health benefits under an arrangement entered into by a VEBA.

Description: This session discussion is about two proposals for health-care reform will be presented, one from the Blue Cross/Blue Shield Association and one from the Council for Affordable Health Care. These dramatically different proposals will be compared and open for critique. From Record of Society of Actuaries Vol. 18, No. 4A.

Description: Evaluation of Taiwan's National Health insurance program and a discussion of a managed competition model to reform it.

Description: A discussion of the causes of Jamaica’s Life Insurance and Financial Sector Crisis in the late 1990s and its impacts on the life insurance industry