Long-listed for the FT & Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award 2011

The true story of how risk destroys, as told through the ongoing saga of AIG

From the collapse of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, the subject of the financial crisis has been well covered. However, the story central to the crisis-that of AIG-has until now remained largely untold. "Fatal Risk: A Cautionary Tale of AIG's Corporate Suicide" tells the inside story of what really went on inside AIG that caused it to choke on risk and nearly brining down the entire economic system. The book
Reveals inside information available nowhere else, including the personal notes and records of key players such as the former Chairman of AIG, Hank GreenbergTakes readers behind the scenes at the U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve Bank of New YorkDetails how an understanding of risk built AIG, but a disdain for government regulators led to a run-in with New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer

"Fatal Risk" is the comprehensive and compelling true story of the company at the center of the financial storm and how it nearly caused the entire economic system to collapse.

with an autobiography from Ragnar NorbergThe Risk and Stochastics Conference, held at the Royal Statistical Society in April 2015, brought together academics from the worlds of actuarial science, stochastic calculus, finance and statistics to celebrate the achievements of Professor Ragnar Norberg as he turned 70. After the conference, Ragnar Norberg suddenly fell very ill and passed away; this book honours his life and work.This collection of articles is written by speakers of the conference, themselves respected academics who have influenced and been influenced by the life and work of Professor Norberg. His professional and academic achievements are celebrated here, most significantly the instrumental work he put into setting up the world-renowned Risk and Stochastics Enterprise at the London School of Economics (LSE). Subjects covered include discussion of risk measurements, ruin constraint, supporting stable pensions, filtration in discrete time, Riesz means and Beurling moving averages and orthonormal polynomial expansions. Also featured are notes from contributors giving account of their personal relations with Professor Norberg, as well as an autobiographical chapter from the man himself.Aimed at graduate level students and researchers interested in the life and work of Ragnar Norberg, this book provides a unique opportunity to reflect on and understand key findings and ground-breaking research in modern actuarial and financial mathematics and their interface, while giving intimate insights into the life of a leading academic mind.

Climate change brings about a new set of major economic risks arising from changing weather patterns, extreme weather events and rising sea levels. Most at risk are developing countries who, despite considerable post-disaster donor aid, have been bearing the major brunt of disaster-related losses. One adaptation solution that is rapidly gaining the support of countries and international donors is a risk transfer to the global reinsurance and capital markets. This volume, a special issue of the journal Climate Policy, explores the role that insurance-based mechanisms can play in helping developing countries prepare for climate change. It offers a unique and comprehensive perspective on the potential role of insurance solutions in global adaptation to climate change and attempts to engender debate on the role of insurance in reducing global emissions and encouraging climate-friendly corporate behaviour.

This must-have manual provides detailed solutions to all of the 300 exercises in Dickson, Hardy and Waters' Actuarial Mathematics for Life Contingent Risks, 3 edition. This groundbreaking text on the modern mathematics of life insurance is required reading for the Society of Actuaries' (SOA) LTAM Exam. The new edition treats a wide range of newer insurance contracts such as critical illness and long-term care insurance; pension valuation material has been expanded; and two new chapters have been added on developing models from mortality data and on changing mortality. Beyond professional examinations, the textbook and solutions manual offer readers the opportunity to develop insight and understanding through guided hands-on work, and also offer practical advice for solving problems using straightforward, intuitive numerical methods. Companion Excel spreadsheets illustrating these techniques are available for free download.

This book examines the challenges for the life insurance sector in Europe arising from new technologies, socio-cultural and demographic trends, and the financial crisis. It presents theoretical and applied research in all areas related to life insurance products and markets, and explores future determinants of the insurance industry's development by highlighting novel solutions in insurance supervision and trends in consumer protection. Drawing on their academic and practical expertise, the contributors identify problems relating to risk analysis and evaluation, demographic challenges, consumer protection, product distribution, mortality risk modeling, applications of life insurance in contemporary pension systems, financial stability and solvency of life insurers. They also examine the impact of population aging on life insurance markets and the role of digitalization. Lastly, based on an analysis of early experiences with the implementation of the Solvency II system, the book provides policy recommendations for the development of life insurance in Europe.

This set gathers together key writings which chart the formative years of insurance and reviews important stages in the history of the subject from contemporary perspectives.

This textbook provides future data analysts with the tools, methods, and skills needed to answer data-focused, real-life questions; to carry out data analysis; and to visualize and interpret results to support better decisions in business, economics, and public policy. Data wrangling and exploration, regression analysis, machine learning, and causal analysis are comprehensively covered, as well as when, why, and how the methods work, and how they relate to each other. As the most effective way to communicate data analysis, running case studies play a central role in this textbook. Each case starts with an industry-relevant question and answers it by using real-world data and applying the tools and methods covered in the textbook. Learning is then consolidated by 360 practice questions and 120 data exercises. Extensive online resources, including raw and cleaned data and codes for all analysis in Stata, R, and Python, can be found at www.gabors-data-analysis.com.

The substantially updated third edition of the popular Actuarial Mathematics for Life Contingent Risks is suitable for advanced undergraduate and graduate students of actuarial science, for trainee actuaries preparing for professional actuarial examinations, and for life insurance practitioners who wish to increase or update their technical knowledge. The authors provide intuitive explanations alongside mathematical theory, equipping readers to understand the material in sufficient depth to apply it in real-world situations and to adapt their results in a changing insurance environment. Topics include modern actuarial paradigms, such as multiple state models, cash-flow projection methods and option theory, all of which are required for managing the increasingly complex range of contemporary long-term insurance products. Numerous exam-style questions allow readers to prepare for traditional professional actuarial exams, and extensive use of Excel ensures that readers are ready for modern, Excel-based exams and for the actuarial work environment. The Solutions Manual (ISBN 9781108747615), available for separate purchase, provides detailed solutions to the text's exercises.

Disaster risk management is of increasing significance in today's world. Every year, natural disasters cause tens of thousands of deaths and tens of billions of dollars' worth of losses. Northeast Asia holds a high propensity for natural disasters, including earthquakes, tsunamis, typhoons, floods and landslides. Countries in the region have a long history of natural disasters that have devastated populations, cities and their heritage. Restoring livelihoods and rebuilding social and economic infrastructures requires adequate political actions and financial resources, necessitating the implementation of a comprehensive strategy for the management of catastrophe risks. Coping with Disaster: Risk Management in Northeast Asia provides an examination of the disaster risk management approaches and financing practices adopted in China, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea. The objective of this book is to provide the necessary information on hazards, exposures and vulnerabilities to assist policy development design to increase governmental preparedness for catastrophe risks. It addresses the traditional aspects of disaster risk management, but goes further to focus on the measures of financial protection required to secure post-disaster resources and strengthen budgetary discipline. Written in an accessible and comprehensible manner, the book will appeal to a wide audience, but is of special interest to policy-makers, public officials, insurance managers and students eager to learn more about disaster risk management in one of the most exposed regions in the world.

"International Dictionary of Insurance and Finance" is an efficient and useful book for business professionals, consumers, business students, insurance professionals, and corporate risk managers. All aspects of international insurance, including life, health, property, casualty, marine, disability, business interruption, copyright and trademark protection, and a host of other insurance topics, are covered. Arranged in an easy-to-use alphabetical format, the "Dictionary" provides definition, explanation, and illustration of each term. The "Dictionary" is also multi-disciplinary, covering a number of related terms in finance and investments.

Malta is the only country in the European Union, and one of only six countries in the world, that has not had a banking crisis since the 1970s. Despite its lack of raw materials, Malta currently has one of the lowest rates of unemployment and inflation in the EU, as well as a positive GDP. Yet there are only a few studies on the development of the industry that contributes most to its economy, the financial services industry. Drawing upon empirical findings, archival research, and interviews, Zammit, Spiteri, and Grima fill a major gap in the literature by delivering a study of the development of the Maltese insurance industry. The authors collect literature and insights from prominent figureheads in order to outline the history of this major sector of the Maltese economy, tracing its roots back to the earliest inhabitants of the island, through to the expansion of its maritime trade, and working right up to the present with the emergence of more complex and sophisticated insurance services and products. The success of Malta's specific risk-management practices, generally characterized by risk-avoidance and prudence, is shown to have implications beyond Maltese financial policy and regulatory development: it offers concrete guidance from a small-scale "laboratory" for the complex policy and development decisions of larger nations. This study is of interest to students and academics of insurance, risk management, and financial services, and it offers food for thought and guidance to practitioners and policy makers.

A book which covers the key period in the history of actuarial science from the mid-17th century to the early 19th century. There are reprints of the most important treatises, pamphlets, tables and writings which trace the development of the actuarial industry.

A book which covers the key period in the history of actuarial science from the mid-17th century to the early 19th century. There are reprints of the most important treatises, pamphlets, tables and writings which trace the development of the actuarial industry.

A book which covers the key period in the history of actuarial science from the mid-17th century to the early 19th century. There are reprints of the most important treatises, pamphlets, tables and writings which trace the development of the actuarial industry.

A book which covers the key period in the history of actuarial science from the mid-17th century to the early 19th century. There are reprints of the most important treatises, pamphlets, tables and writings which trace the development of the actuarial industry.

A book which covers the key period in the history of actuarial science from the mid-17th century to the early 19th century. There are reprints of the most important treatises, pamphlets, tables and writings which trace the development of the actuarial industry.

A book which covers the key period in the history of actuarial science from the mid-17th century to the early 19th century. There are reprints of the most important treatises, pamphlets, tables and writings which trace the development of the actuarial industry.

A book which covers the key period in the history of actuarial science from the mid-17th century to the early 19th century. There are reprints of the most important treatises, pamphlets, tables and writings which trace the development of the actuarial industry.

A book which covers the key period in the history of actuarial science from the mid-17th century to the early 19th century. There are reprints of the most important treatises, pamphlets, tables and writings which trace the development of the actuarial industry.

A book which covers the key period in the history of actuarial science from the mid-17th century to the early 19th century. There are reprints the most important treatises, pamphlets, tables and writings which trace the development of the actuarial industry. An introductory essay traces the history of actuarial science and illumminates key texts. The themes covered include accountancy, annuities, compound interest, demography, investments, life contingencies, pensions, probability, sickness and tontines.

This volume features a selection of contributions presented at the 2019 Wroclaw Conference in Finance, covering a wide range of topics in finance and financial economics, e.g. financial markets; monetary policy; corporate, personal and public finance; and risk management and insurance. Reflecting the diversity and richness of research in the field, the papers discuss both fundamental and applied finance, and offer a detailed analysis of current financial-market problems, including specifics of the Polish and Central European markets. They also examine the results of advanced financial modeling. Accordingly, the proceedings offer a valuable resource for researchers at universities and policy institutions, as well as graduate students and practitioners in economics and finance at both private and government organizations.

A powerful and path-breaking expose of America's Medical Industrial Complex-the network of mutually beneficial relationships between big business, academic medicine, patient advocacy organizations, hospitals, and government-and a compelling way forward for transforming America's healthcare system How has the United States, with more resources than any nation, developed a healthcare system that delivers much poorer results, at near double the cost of any other developed country-such that legendary seer Warren Buffett calls the Medical Industrial Complex "the tapeworm of American economic competitiveness"? Mike Magee, M.D., who worked for years inside the Medical Industrial Complex administering a hospital and then as a senior executive at the giant pharmaceutical company Pfizer, has spent the last decade deconstructing the complex, often shocking rise of, and connectivity between, the pillars of our health system-Big Pharma, insurance companies, hospitals, the American Medical Association, and anyone affiliated with them. With an eye first and foremost on the bottom line rather than on the nation's health, each sector has for decades embraced cure over care, aiming to conquer disease rather than concentrate on the cultural and social factors that determine health. This decision Magee calls the "original sin" of our health system. Code Blue is a riveting, character-driven narrative that draws back the curtain on the giant industry that consumes one out of every five American dollars. Making clear for the first time the mechanisms, greed, and collusion by which our medical system was built over the last eight decades-and arguing persuasively and urgently for the necessity of a single-payer, multi-plan insurance arena of the kind enjoyed by every other major developed nation-Mike Magee gives us invaluable perspective and inspiration by which we can, indeed, reshape the future.

Can private health insurance fill gaps in publicly financed coverage? Does it enhance access to health care or improve efficiency in health service delivery? Will it provide fiscal relief for governments struggling to raise public revenue for health? This book examines the successes, failures and challenges of private health insurance globally through country case studies written by leading national experts. Each case study considers the role of history and politics in shaping private health insurance and determining its impact on health system performance. Despite great diversity in the size and functioning of markets for private health insurance, the book identifies clear patterns across countries, drawing out valuable lessons for policymakers while showing how history and politics have proved a persistent barrier to effective public policy. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Especially since the 2003 SARS crisis, China's healthcare system has become a growing source of concern, both for citizens and the Chinese government. China's once praised public health services have deteriorated into a system driven by economic constraints, in which poor people often fail to get access, and middle-income households risk to be dragged into poverty by the rising costs of care. The New Rural Co-operative Medical System (NRCMS) was introduced to counter these tendencies and constitutes the main system of public health insurance in China today. This book outlines the nature of the system, traces the processes of its enactment and implementation, and discusses its strengths and weaknesses. It argues that the contested nature of the fields of health policy and social security has long been overlooked, and reinterprets the NRCMS as a compromise between opposing political interests. Furthermore, it argues that structural institutional misfits facilitate fiscal imbalances and a culture of non-compliance in local health policy, which distort the outcomes of the implementation and limit the effectiveness of insurance. These dynamics also raise fundamental questions regarding the effectiveness of other areas of the comprehensive New Health Reform, which China has initiated to overhaul its healthcare system.