Top 10 articles for 2021
A record of 244 articles were published in 2021! The Editorial Committee would like to thank everyone who has contributed to Actuaries Digital this year. Your efforts have ensured we continue to publish high quality, relevant articles on a diverse range of topics.
Here are the 10 ‘most read’ articles of 2021 on Actuaries Digital.
#10: Strong exam results! Congratulations to all
By Michael Callan
Coming in at #10, Michael Callan, the Executive General Manager of Education at the Institute, analyses the 2021 Semester 2 results and thanks the hard work and dedication of the students, the Institute’s Education Team, and the 100 Fellows who volunteer their time to educate the next generation of actuaries. Read more.
#9 A “hardening” reinsurance market – How to mitigate the adverse impact
By Saliya Jinadasa and Tan Yu Siang (Sandy)
This article discusses the drivers behind the hardening reinsurance market and notable observations from recent reinsurance policy renewals, and importantly focuses on steps that can be taken to mitigate the adverse impact of the hardening market from an insurers’ perspective. Read more.
#8 Role of the Underwriter in the age of Data & Analytics
by Alex Pui and Samuel Chu
While insurance principles have been used for centuries, the industry has been quick to adopt new technologies, including investing in insurtech startups to benefit from disruptive ideas. This article explores and discusses the evolution of underwriting role to date, the extent and timing of digital disruption to general insurance underwriters, and how firms can best leverage its underwriters amidst the disruptions. Read more.
#7 Under the Spotlight – Ricky Au
By Ricky Au
Ricky Au, of the Institute’s Diversity and Inclusion Working Group, goes ‘Under the Spotlight’ to share his experience of celebrating pride in the workplace, what drew him to becoming an actuary, and the importance of being out and open in the profession. Read more.
#6 Counting the cost of catastrophes with climate change
By Alex Pui, Conrad Wasko and Ashish Sharma
Of the top 10 global catastrophes examined between 1970 and 2019, storms accounted for approximately $521 billion in global economic losses whiles floods accounted for about $115 billion. For the first time, using economic loss data, a country-by-country assessment of the changes in catastrophe loss with reference to local temperatures has been performed, leading to new insights which can be applied as global warming continues to accelerate. Read an analysis of the findings.
#5 Where have all the higher maths students gone?
By Margarita Psaras, Martin Mulcare and David Barnes
A fundamental problem in Australia’s education system is that maths subjects are being deprioritised in high school education. There are several contributing factors, and the adverse implications for individuals, our profession, and society, in general, are serious. Read more.
#4 Gauss, Least Squares, and the Missing Planet
By Milton Lim
The field of statistics has a very rich and colourful history with plenty of interesting stories. Milton Lim describes his personal favourite – Carl Friedrich Gauss’ discovery of the method of least squares and the normal distribution to solve a particularly thorny problem in astronomy. So where did the ubiquitous bell curve originate from? Read more.
#3 Explainable ML: A peek into the black box through SHAP
By Jonathan Tan
With data becoming more widely available, there are more and more companies using powerful machine learning models to gain an edge over their competitors. The insurance industry is no exception, and a good model can help give the insurer a competitive advantage in many areas. Read more.
#2 Reviving the travel industry and travel insurance market
By Saliya Jinadasa and Tan Yu Siang (Sandy)
The COVID-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on the travel industry and travel insurance market. Before the outbreak, demand for travel (as measured by revenue passenger kilometres or RPKs) had been relatively flat. The outbreak was the tip of iceberg for the travel industry. Read more.
And the winner goes to…
#1 The Olympics by numbers – for people who love data and sports (but mainly data)
By Ean Chan and Grant Lian
This analysis of a Kaggle dataset of Olympic athletes is the most read article for 2021! The data contains 120 years of Olympic history, including medals and Olympic cities, and 60 years’ worth of height, weight and age data within. Congratulations, Ean and Grant! Read more.
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