Description: Regularization, by means of trading restrictions, is an effective way to obtain sparse replicating portfolios. By including only the most relevant replicating instruments, the resulting portfolio is more efficient computationally, easier to interpret, and better able to approximate the liability on an out-of-sample basis. The instruments selected depend largely on their respective trading costs. This paper evaluates a number of alternative methods for specifying trading costs. We find that trading costs based on simple statistics of the instrument and liability cash flows are an effective choice in practice. Presented at 2010 Enterprise Risk Management Symposium, Society of Actuaries, April 12-15, 2010.

Description: 2011 ERM Symposium, Chicago. This is the abstract of the entitled paper.

Description: 2011 Enterprise Risk Management Symposium, Chicago. This is the abstract of the entitled paper.

Description: This paper, first published in 1982 in the Transactions of Society of Actuaries, Vol. 34, discusses the phenomenon of durational antiselection, a commonly observed steady and seemingly irreversible increase in loss ratios on mature blocks of individual health insurance policies. The author, William F. Bluhm, constructs a model to explain the deterioration of loss ratios over time, and to quantify the cumulative antiselection effect. This paper was awarded the 1980-82 Triennial Prize. The paper includes written discussion and the author’s review of discussion.

Description: The abstract for the paper Improving Pension Funding: What's in It for me?

Description: A Towers Perrin proposal for pension funding reform.

Description: An essay suggesting a health care financing system.

Description: Table from an article in The Actuary Magazine on an analysis of risk management terminology: your guide to speaking ERM with different industries.

Description: An Allstate–specific risk framework based on executive interviews and research conducted by the team.

Description: In May of 2001 the Credit Insurance Experience Committee was asked to respond to the National Association of Insurance Commissioner’s request to the Society of Actuaries to develop a recommendation for a uniform national valuation standard for credit life insurance policy reserves. This document contains the recommendation along with supporting material.