Wiki Book of Actuarial Science?

Wikibooks is great!

Wikibooks is a Wikimedia community for creating a free library of educational textbooks that anyone can edit.

Since the start in 2003, Wikibooks has grown to include over 35000 pages (year 2009) in a multitude of textbooks created by volunteers.


Chess
A great example of Wikibooks is the Wikibook Chess.

In exactly 12 chapters a variety of aspects like, Playing, Notating, Tactics, Strategies, Openings and Endgames, are clearly explained.


Wikibook of Actuarial Science
There is also a Wikibook of Actuarial Science. Although all the required chapters of 'Actuarial Science' are already there and structured, the content has to be taken care of.

So, if you like to contribute? Work for voluntary actuaries!

Model Collective Behavior?

Take a look at the next picture:

It's clear that the little fish here, have a problem.

What's also clear, is that random actions of an individual fish are not likely going to change the situation.


In the next picture, by coordinating behavior, a way has been found to solve 'the problem' :



This solution looks very simple, the question is how to organize this kind of collective "big fish" behavior?

The problem is that often first movers will not benefit from a collective approach:

It turns out that one way to get individuals to coordinate their behavior is through morality.

Interested?
In an excellent essay called A Business Plan for Catalyzing Collective Action , The Point explanes how how these cooperative mechanisms can be created.

Actuarial Models
Collective (organizing) mechanisms are important stuff for actuaries. For example, they play an essential role with regard to all kind of solidarity aspects in pension- and insurance-contracts.

Moreover, collective rational or even emotional behavior often plays a decisive role in our society, as may be clear from the 2009 credit crisis turmoil and the escalating bonus madness.

Be aware, study "collective behavior mechanisms" and take them into account when you set up your actuarial risk model.

EU Banks : US $ 8 Trillion assets

Are European banks desperate to avoid recognizing a possible loss on their 8 Trillion Dollar US-Holding assets?


US assets, owned by European banks, increased from $2 trillion in 1999 to around $8 trillion in 2009.

In 2008 the Fed lent $600 billion to European central banks to make up for collapse of dollar funding from US money market funds.



What do, as an actuary, make up from this?

Interested? Read more about this possible time bomb at:

Market Skeptics

Moreover the Fed moves that would more than double its balance-sheet assets by September to $4.5 trillion from $1.9 trillion.

This will imply a 15-Fold Increase In US Monetary Base in September 2009.

"Trust" will be a key word in 2009!