Description: Users of statistical packages should be more aware of the influence that outlying data points can have on their statistical analyses. Robust procedures provide formal methods to spot these outliers and reduce their influence. While a few robust procedures are mentioned in this article, one is emphasized and it is motivated by maximum likelihood estimation to make it seem more natural. In this article, the author will try to provide some background, beginning with maximum likelihood estimation of one parameter, that will hopefully make robust estimation seem natural and rather easy.

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 develops a method for estimating the future claim costs of known ongoing large medical claims. It applies Least Squares analysis of historical experience to derive two arrays of factors. One array is to be applied as a vector inner product with claim costs already incurred and/or paid to project a total future claim cost. The second array distributes the total future claim cost over the months following the analysis date.

Description: Given a financial transaction we are often interested in the number of internal rates of return [yield rates] and their location. From an actuarial point of view, the fundamental question is to identify those transactions with a single yield rate, or a single rate in some interval such as the positive reals. In this paper we are concerned with this counting problem. We survey various results concerning this problem, and provide a unifying approach together with some new insights.

Description: Sooner or later a casualty actuary is confronted by the question, Given a history of paid loss amounts by calendar year, what should reserves be? Often, it is not possible to accurately gather and analyze additional data within the time constraints for the reserving decision. The algebraic reserving method presented in this paper offers one approach to rapidly addressing this problem.

Description: Non-consequentiality is quite consequential for the claims made for the applicability of Risk Theory RT to decision problems that are not transparently tactical or wholly instrumental. On the negative side, RT is not normative or even a complete heuristic in such contexts. The author takes strong exception to the common tendencies, A to link risk theory with welfarism and versions of utilitarianism, and B to claim that with or without but especially with such linkage RT is normative in both moral and rational analysis, choice and action.