Description: The American Academy of Actuaries and the Society of Actuaries have joined resources to maintain this Economic Scenario Generators Excel Workbook tool for use in regulatory reserve and capital calculations. Please see the SOA website research pages for further information on this tool and how to use it.

Description: This paper outlines a statistical modeling framework for fitting mortality laws to mortality experience data. The process can be used as an alternative to traditional graduation techniques used in mortality table development.

Description: Focusing on the topic of Principle Based Reserves (PBR), the SOA offers on-demand education. The PBR series consists of ten micro-lessons providing foundational education on PBR and requirements of VM-20.

Description: This article reports on the activities of an ad-hoc group formed to help generate research on creating models for actuarial purposes.

Description: This article is a book review of “Two Stochastic Processes,” by John A. Beekman. The author of this article notes that the two stochastic processes referred to in the book are the Gaussian Markov and the collective risk stochastic processes, and that both the theory and applications are examined. Note: a more detailed review of this book will appear in the Transactions.

Description: Transcript of the Q&A period from Session 6A: Projection and Statistical Modeling of Mortality at Late Age

Description: This article proposes a framework for estimating mortality improvement models and analyzing the parameter uncertainty in such models.

Description: We provide a possible solution to deal with the parameter estimation of mortality models when the population size is small, based on graduation methods.

Description: The purpose of this paper is to explore a methodology for choosing among techniques for managing contribution volatility in defined- benefit pension plans. A frequently used – and as often criticized – method for managing contribution volatility is to base actuarial cost on smoothed assets. Our goal in this paper is to develop a methodology for measuring and evaluating the quantitative impact of competing asset smoothing policies. We proceed by investigating a series of basic pension metrics, evaluating the characteristics of each using a simulated pension plan. We then use normalized and weighted combinations of these metrics to determine an optimal smoothing policy.

Description: Part 2 of an article which presents simplified problem and and presented alternate models. Answers are presented in this article. The author's final question is: If traditional actuarial models stumble over these issues, can we get it right for real world funding pension plans and funding practices?