Description: It is now almost 120 years since Makeham extended Gompertz’s efforts to find a simple mathematical law which would reflect the mortality experience of a group of lives and also simplify the calculation of monetary values. This article discusses a radically different approach, relating mortality improvements to economic condition, proposed by Kohler and Alcock in an article in the Journal of Peace Research, Vol XIII entitled Economic Law of Life.

Description: This article is about the 2008 Living to 100 Symposium which highlighted changes in longevity, biological perspectives, mortality trends and more .

Description: This article is a book review of Gerald T. Gruman's, A History of Ideas about the Prolongation of Life, which gives an historical view of the desire to extend the human life span.

Description: With improved global mortality confirmed, the question becomes: What adjustments do actuaries need to make? This article answers that and other questions related to mortality improvements.

Description: Article discusses the how the older population has been treated throughout history with low regard and often as a burden on society.

Description: Actuaries have been indebted to the Statistical Bureau of the Metropolitan Life for studies in vital statistics associated with the names of Dublin, Lew and Spiegelman and a recent study by Quint and Cody is in this tradition. It is headed Preeminence and Mortality and was presented to the Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association last November. This article shares further perspectives about longevity, and the characteristics of people who experience long lives.

Description: Discussion of the need to understand the implications of demographic and family diversity for the design of retirement programs. The design of retirement programs is a design of programs for the elderly, who are more often women, because women live longer and because their work histories often lead to reduced levels of pension and social security benefits.

Description: The article explores options for defined-benefit retirement plan sponsors to transfer pension risk, focusing on recent trends in the United Kingdom.

Description: This article contains responses from five actuaries to a request for an explanation of how the 15% figure is calculated in the contention by unisex-pricing advocates that 15% of women live longer than men, but 100% of women are penalized.

Description: This article discusses the trend of increasing life expectancy due to the progress of molecular genetics and the possible social consequences. From The Actuary, January 1971, Vol. 5, No. 1.