Brian Fannin is one busy guy. And his cover story on CAS research proves it. The CAS Research Actuary underlines what he, the Research Council and the many CAS research working groups have been working on and have completed this year. And there is much more in store from this hardworking group of volunteers.
Risk is opportunity
The recent spate of weather catastrophes is having an impact on insurance and policy holders. AR welcomes back Rade Musulin, a past contributor who has written on climate change before (“Actuarial Evolution: Climate Risk is Our Next Frontier,” AR, March-April 2022). In our feature story, Musulin and coauthor Alp Can write about how P&C actuaries can take holistic views on climate risk to find opportunities.
Inflation through the years
Jim Lynch is on a mission to review CAS literature on inflation. His first article focuses on a 1981 paper by Robert P. Butsic, one that spent quite a few years on the CAS Syllabus of Education. Although he looks at the paper through a rearview mirror, Lynch finds many pertinent pieces of wisdom for today. Robert Butsic is a bit of an enigma as well. He is not a CAS member but has worked on several CAS committees over the years, the last being Risk-Based Capital Dependencies and Calibration Subcommittee.
One intriguing aspect of the story was just how far technology has advanced. Today, creating equations in Word is tedious but totally doable, but it would be years after Butsic wrote his paper that this kind of program would be available. We’ve included part of the original paper that shows how the author handwrote Greek symbols in the text.
And the rest
This issue is just brimming with information. Also included in this issue, CAS Past President Mike Walters has a suggestion for a future line of business for actuaries, Jonathan Evans tempts us with a dessert puzzle and three industrious CAS volunteers find their places in the spotlight. And finally, President Roosevelt Mosley discusses the changes going on with CAS staff building resources to serve the membership even more.
I hope you enjoy this AR.