Description: I present my thoughts for the upcoming year. We are currently doing our planning and I am sharing with the readers the different topics we plan to cover during the year through session during SOA's meetings, webcasts, and our newsletter Taxing Time. We will also be on the watch for what in happening in the industry.

Description: I present my thoughts on the importance for the section to collaborate with other sections and what the section is doing to collaborate.

Description: The Special Financial Assistance (SFA) program included in the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) will provide grants to some of the more troubled multiemployer plans. While this is a welcomed relief for many multiemployer plans facing insolvency, plenty of challenges remain in the implementation of the funds and ability to maintain solvency after the SFA funds are fully utilized. Explore the challenges and opportunities from the pension relief provisions.

Description: This paper uses the ideal quasi-natural experiment of government-subsidized agricultural insurance program phased out in different regions of China since 2007 to study the effects and transmission mechanisms of the program on alleviating regional poverty using a multi-period Difference-in-Differences (DID) approach. Specifically, this paper identifies the causal effects on the incidence, depth and intensity of poverty among rural residents. The research has important policy implications. First, this paper uses the program as a case to provide a research paradigm to estimate effects of implementing policy instruments that combine markets and government mandates. Second, as common prosperity is now a government imperative, the research also provides insights into ways insurance can be used to hedge income risks, alleviate poverty and help achieve more equitable distribution. The paper has been published on WeChat account of Chinese Association of Actuaries on February 9, 2022. The full version has been published in CSSCI journal Insurance Research, issue 11, 2021.