Mortality has been improving in Australia (and indeed most of the world) for a long time. As my dad found out recently, the life expectancy at birth for a boy born in Australia has improved from 63 when he was born, to 79.7 years now. But there is considerable debateContinue Reading
So far I haven’t managed to kill the entire world population… but I’m getting there. Plague Inc is a strategy game in which you “must bring about the end of human history by evolving a deadly, global Plague whilst adapting against everything humanity can do to defend itself.” It’s aContinue Reading
You may have noticed that the US had an election this week. If you have any interest in statistics, you may also have noticed an election blogger at the NY Times called Nate Silver. The Economist summarises the story: The 2012 presidential election went exactly as predicted by the leading quantitative analysts.Continue Reading
This week I was lucky enough to attend the launch of UN Women’s Spring Campaign: Don’t be a Bystander: Say No to Violence against Women. As befits an actuarial blog, here are some statistics from the 2005 Australian Physical Safety Survey: since the age of 15, two percent of women andContinue Reading
In a previous post, I wondered whether Appointed Actuaries were moving into a compliance role, partly driven by the new ICAAP requirements from APRA for insurance companies. Well I’m not the only one who has been thinking about the role of Appointed Actuaries. We had a session at the ActuariesContinue Reading
The Stronger Super reforms are the biggest change to superannuation in Australia since the introduction of the superannuation guarantee 20 years ago. The changes are aimed at improving the integrity of the superannuation system, and to provide a better deal for super members who do not manage their own funds.Continue Reading
This week there was an article in the NY Times (in the fashion and style section, but that’s another story) asking whether Dads are taking over on the home front. It was prompted by some census statistics that there are now 176,000 dads in the US who have left the workforceContinue Reading
As insurance companies start to implement ICAAP ahead of the 1 January 2013 deadline next year, they are thinking through what best practice looks like; not necessarily to implement it now, but to try to move in the right direction. One aspect of the new standards which is new from a regulatoryContinue Reading
It’s a trend that’s sweeping the Sydney CBD. Activity Based working is a concept of different types of spaces, depending on what work you are doing. There are quiet spaces, project desks, meeting rooms with fabulous IT setups, and cafe style seating around the kitchen space. The trick is that theContinue Reading
Thinking, Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman is one of those books to read slowly, and reread multiple times. It is full of fascinating and counterintuitive facts about how we think. That makes it sound dense. It isn’t. I found it very easy to read, devouring it in great gulps,Continue Reading