Terrorism and the Actuarial Outlook

[ltjdangle911]

I was wondering how much of an effect uprising terrorism has had on the actuarial career. I assume the role of the actuary has drastically changed since the events on 9/11, and if that is true, I was wondering what specific changes have happened. In addition, I was wondering whether the growing number of natural disasters around the world (most likely due to global warming) has affected the career as well. Thank you!

[ltjdangle911]

anyone...please?

[bdenyer]

I can't really answer you in terms of the effect on the actuarial world, but I just wanted to note that there is a lot of research that suggests that the number of hurricanes in recent years is not really being caused by global warming. In the North Atlantic, there seems to be a pattern in the number of hurricanes per year, and right now we seem to be experiencing the upper part of the pattern.

In general, though, it seems like there is a greater amount of uncertainty in the post 9/11 world, so you did propose an interesting question. I would expect that the main impacts would pertain to the property/casualty field--esp. with respect to the natural disasters.

I guess i didn't really answer you. sorry.

[ltjdangle911]

thanks for the response

[ltjdangle911]

OK, if anyone could give my question one last thought--I would greatly appreciate it. Hopefully more people will read this now that it is a Monday. Thank you.

[Ken]

I think you could use some patience.

[wat]

OK, if anyone could give my question one last thought--I would greatly appreciate it. Hopefully more people will read this now that it is a Monday. Thank you.

Aha - got it.

[url]http://www.contingencies.org/novdec04/terrorism.pdf[/url]

I knew I'd read it in Contingencies at some point.

If you're interested in a magazine that discusses current actuarial topics and concerns, Contingencies usually has some pretty good information related to the topic. In recent issues, Avian influenza, catastrophic modeling (like the type bdenyer mentioned above) and other topics concerning the actuarial/insurance world today are discussed.

[ltjdangle911]

Thank you so much! I don't know how I didn't find that!