Description: This article explores the market volatility of 2008, and addresses the following question: “was the market behaving inefficiently as appeared to be the case in 2008, or was there something truly rational going on, which for most people was hard to see?”

Description: This 1981 session on Fiscal and Monetary Policy dealt with questions of i. What are current U.S. and Canadian policies? 2. What is the outlook for fiscal policy in the U.S. and Canada? 3. What does current monetary policy imply for financial and credit markets and interest rates? 4. What political, social and economic changes must occur for nominal interest rates to begin steadily declining toward parity with real interest rates? From Record of Society of Actuaries, Vol. 7, No. 2.

Description: This paper presents multiple book reviews: Reports from Staff of U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means and U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, Reports in Connection with Social Security Legislation 1975-77, 'Statement on Cost Comparisons of Individual Life Insurance Policies', by Canadian Institute of Actuaries, 'Investment Activities of Life Insurance Companies' from Huebner Foundation Lectures, 'The Life Insurance Industry's Marketing Dilemma' by Johns, 'The Future of Social Security' by Munnell, 'Social Security - Today and Tomorrow' by Ball, 'Mortality Table Construction' by Batten, 'Mortality Table Construction' by Batten, 'The Crisis in Social Security - Problems and Prospects' by Boskin, 'A History of Interest Rates' by Homer, 'Indexation of Pensions and Other Benefits' by Robert Myers, 'Life Insurance Accounting' by Strain, '1978 Annual Report of the Board of Trustees of the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund...' by US Congress. Brief summaries of additional readings are also included.

Description: This session discussion is about outside actuarial profession's perspective on health care cost, insurer's role in medical care management, relationships between treatment decisions, available coverage, appropriate use of underwriting and paying for uncompensated care. From Record of Society of Actuaries Vol. 18, No. 1A.

Description: Investment risk management has become a core competency of insurance companies, and much has been discussed on this topic. This session examines the current investment risk management practices such as product line specific hedging and macro hedging, with a focus on what still remains to be addressed—whether the tradeoff of addition risk management is worthwhile.

Description: This is a panel discussion about the economic outlook in the 1960's.

Description: Spreadsheet with documentation for exhibits to the May 2007 report: The Potential Impact of Pandemic Influenza on the U.S. Life insurance Industry

Description: “The Great Tech Bubble is one of the great bubbles and collapses in financial market history. It’s an excellent reminder of the madness that humans in financial markets are capable of. That’s just in case we need another reminder right now.”

Description: Chronically low interest rates are a reflection of macroeconomic trends. Care must be exercised in making assumptions regarding mean reversion.

Description: For a long time the primary focus of private LTC insurance companies has been to educate the public about the need for private LTC insurance and to make the product more acceptable to a wider population. To this end there have been numerous changes to the product design to make this product more acceptable to general population. However, one of the things that may have been overlooked in those product design changes is the need for alignment of policyholder and insurance company’s interests, which is to make coverage more affordable and to reduce adverse selection. Incentivizing good behavior from policyholders can not only make LTC insurance policies less expensive but also help policyholders make better health choices, which can help them stay healthy for a longer time. These incentives may also reduce some of the inherent risks in a long term care policy and may help in increasing the sales of private LTC insurance.