Description: The author proposes the concept of a risk-free equivalent rate of return on shareholders' equity, or ‘REROSHE,’ as a means of helping business managers make decisions involving risk. The author defines REROSHE as ‘that certain return on an investment of u that will generate the same expected value of utility as will earnings on a line of business supported by surplus u.’ Includes discussion and author’s review of discussion. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1983 Volume 35.

Description: This Task Force was charged to develop and understanding and quantification of risks of loss from the combination of C-1, C-2, C-3 and C-4 risks and the implications for insurer financial management. The Task Force concluded that analysis of cash flows would be the key to addressing these matters. This report is a series of papers prepared by various individuals on cash-flow analysis approaches to addressing these issues.

Description: This paper presents a generalization of the principal current methods of financial decision making. In the way physical sciences benefit from new general theories that encompass those theories they succeed, the science of finance can benefit from the development of a general framework that encompasses many of the current methods of financial analysis. The paper develops a general framework for financial decision-making from a few simple axioms of rational economic behavior.

Description: 1994 SOA Spring Meeting, Orlando. In this session the panelists debated the diversity of professional practice about how companies and regulators can and should measure profit and set standards for profit margins. One panelist spoke of the traditional actuarial perspective, while the other represented the modern theory of finance.

Description: This 1978 session on classification models included 1. models demonstrating the effect of a classification system superimposed on a merit rating system and 2. models demonstrating the subsidization of poorer risks.

Description: This article uses a fable to demonstrate how an actuary, like an engineer, can increase your security and often save you money.

Description: The system of using securities exchanges and commodity futures contract exchanges is inadequate to the task. Neither can transfer the risks of derivative financial contracts to the capital markets. Regardless of the degree of regulation or the financial incentives, this system is insufficient. A new type of exchange is needed that copes with fast price changes – even from “long” to “short” – without inviting bankruptcy.

Description: American actuaries are increasingly involved in risk management. This paper presents an Overview of the role of the American actuary in risk management today, a book review of a remarkable new work by a philosopher of science, and a challenge to the reader.