I think Bitcoins and the Blockchain are amazingly cool. I still don’t think Bitcoins are a useful currency and I worry that many of Bitcoin’s biggests fans also like the gold standard, Austrian economics and some other crazy stuff. What impact will the loss of Bitcoins over time have on the economy?
There is a Mauritian insurer called Island Life. Best name ever for an insurance company. I firmly believe in anthropogenic climate change. I am not an expert, but my reading has convinced me of the seriousness of the issues, the overwhelming evidence that it is humans at fault. Having young children makes me seriously concerned…
Systemic risk is risk to the “system” in some way. In the financial services world, it is often defined in one of two ways: The risk of contagion, where failure of an entity leads to distress or failures of others [micro prudential] The risk of an event that can trigger serious consequences for the real economy.…
I’ve played plenty of board games in my life. I’m not (only) talking about Monopoly. I went to Cambridge (to visit, very sadly, not to study) in 2003. I found an awesome board game store and tried to buy Diplomacy. The incredibly wise assistant basically forced me to buy Settlers of Catan before he would…
Ah models, my old friends. You’re always wrong, but sometimes helpful. Often dangerous too. A recent article in The Actuary magazine addressed whether “de-risking in members’ best interests?“Â I say “recent” even though it’s from August because I am a little behind on my The Actuary reading. In the article, the authors demonstrate that by…
This is part 2 of a 3 part series. Part 1 is here. Non-life claims reserves are regularly not discounted, for bad reasons and good. This part of the series looks at the related issue of inflation in claims reserving. (You’ll have to wait for part 3 for me to talk about the analysis that…
I love to read, so I’m not proud to admit right upfront that everything I know about “Love in the time of cholera” I learnt in 3 minutes from wikipedia starting about 3 minutes ago. Seems like a book I should read. But another than playing on the well known book and movie title, this…
I’ve found many ways of the years to continue my education – formal and informal. From time to time I feel my self stagnate a little and a change of approach can reinvigorate the process. For the last few months, podcasts have been the answer. I’m fortunate enough not to have a very long commute…
