We investigate the implications of a dual approach to the graduation of the force of mortality based on the modelling of the exposures as gamma random variables, as opposed to the modelling of the numbers of deaths as Poisson random variables.

This paper deals with the bivariate generalized Poisson distribution. The distribution is fitted to the aggregate amount of claims for a compound class of policies submitted to claims of two kinds whose yearly frequencies are a priori dependent. A comparative study with the bivariate Poisson distribution and with two bivariate mixed Poisson distributions has been carried out, based on data concerning natural events insurance in the USA and third party liability automobile insurance in France.

This paper finds payoff frequency distributions for valuing European and American fixed strike average options on a discrete time, recombining multiplicative binomial asset price process. In comparison to other discrete valuation methods the distributions, obtained analytically from a generating function, greatly reduce the computational requirements needed for accurate valuation. Less data are needed to value geometric than arithmetic averages, but the magnitude of calculations is similar for both instruments. Calculations of order T3 are needed to value European instruments, of order T4 to value their American counterparts. A frequency distribution of a quantity called path sums is used to value geometric average options, and a joint distribution of path sums and realized prices is used to value arithmetic average options. The frequency distributions give an exact value for geometric average, an approximate value for arithmetic average instruments. The method obtains additional information from the generating function to estimate approximation errors relative to the exact binomial solution. If the errors are significant they can be reduced using still further detail from the generating function. Error reduction can be performed selectively to minimize additional calculation.

The problem of determining optimal retention levels for a non-life portfolio consisting of a number of independent sub-portfolios was first discussed by de Finetti (1940). He considered retention levels as optimal if they minimised the variance of the insurer's profit from the portfolio subject to the constraint of a fixed level of expected profit. In this paper we consider a similar problem, changing the criterion for optimality to minimising the probability of ruin, either in discrete or continuous time. We investigate this problem through a series of case studies based on a real portfolio.

The objective of this paper is to make allowance for cost of claims in experience rating. We design here a bonus-malus system for the pure premium of insurance contracts, from a rating based on their individual characteristics. Empirical results are presented, that are drawn from a French data base of automobile insurance contracts.

The upper bound provided by Lundberg's inequality can be improved for the probability of ruin in finite horizon, as Gerber (1979) has shown. This paper studies this upper bound as a function of the retention limit, for an excess of loss arrangement, and compares it with the probability of ruin.

This paper is concerned with two methods to estimate the parameters of the Poisson-Goncharov distribution introduced recently by Lefevre and Picard (1996). These methods are applied to fit, inter alia, the six observed claims distributions, from automobile insurance third party liability portfolios, studied by Gossiaux and Lemaire (1981) and analysed afterwards by several authors.

In the present paper we discuss error bounds for approximations to aggregate claims distributions. We consider approximations to convolutions by approximating each of the distributions and taking the convolution of these approximations. For compound distributions we consider two classes of approximations. In the first class we approximate the counting distribution, but keep the severity distribution unchanged, whereas in the second class we approximate the severity distribution, but keep the counting distribution unchanged. We finally look at some examples.

This paper shows how credibility theory can be encompassed within the theory of Hierarchical Generalized Linear Models. It is shown that credibility estimates are obtained by including random effects in the model. The framework of Hierarchical Generalized Linear Models allows a more extensive range of models to be used than straightforward credibility theory. The model fitting and testing procedures can be carried out using a standard statistical package. Thus, the paper contributes a further range of models which may be useful in a wide range of actuarial applications, including premium rating and claims reserving.

When claims in the compound Poisson risk model are from a heavy-tailed distribution (such as the Pareto or the lognormal), traditional techniques used to compute the probability of ultimate ruin converge slowly to desired probabilities. Thus, faster and more accurate methods are needed. Product integration can be used in such situations to yield fast and accurate estimates of ruin probabilities because it uses quadrature weights that are suited to the underlying distribution. Tables of ruin probabilities for the Pareto and lognormal distributions are provided.