Description: Discusses the influences that foreign economies have on the U.S. economy and the risks that those influences create for the U.S. life insurance industry.

Description: The authors introduce an alternative to Tail Contribution Analysis TCA for analyzing business segments and strategies called Economic Profit Analysis EPA. They discuss EPA’s key feature, “volatility replication,” an intuitively appealing process of building investor expectations and capital market information into the risk-and-return measurements used to evaluate strategic decisions. Finally, they illustrate the benefit of using EPA in overcoming the problems of TCA and thereby providing concise reliable information for business decision making.

Description: The hot days of summer are upon us and, with it, the inevitable reference to the dog days of August. All over North America this year, summer began early with heat waves, heat alerts, smog alerts and hurricane and tornado warnings. Admittedly, this is not very encouraging news for our society which is concerned with preservation of life, quality of life and conservation of property. Accordingly, it is a challenge for our profession that prides itself on its ability to accurately calculate the financial impact of natural or catastrophic events on society at large. The Actuary Magazine August 2005

Description: Table of contents for The Actuary Magazine - December 2004

Description: Answering the question: Do you think that genetic information is different, and if so, should insurers handle it differently from other medical information?

Description: The author explores the nature of risk in the actuarial profession and suggests that all of us actuaries in the world are connected by this common bond.

Description: This letter was written in response to an article that ran in the October issue of The Actuary, titled "The Medical Malpractice Crisis: A Top=Down Solution" by Allen Elstein. Mr. Elstein's reply is also in this article.

Description: This article is an interview with Phelim Boyle, an educator, actuary, PhD, author, financial engineer and recipient of the IAFE/ SunGard Financial Engineer of the Year Award and perhaps best known for his research into Monte Carlo methods.

Description: Examines the question of whether health-care costs, or health insurance costs, are in crisis.

Description: The sentinel effect in the underwriting process refers to the tendency for unhealthy individuals to apply for insurance coverage where testing is not performed. The article reports on evidence of the effect with respect to cocaine and tobacco use and HIV positive prevalence