Shapland Flashcards
what does reserving tend to focus on (as an answer)?
Shapland
point estimates rather than distributions of reserves
why is the reserving focus beginning to change?
Shapland
- SEC requesting more reserving risk info from publicly traded companies
- rating agencies are building dynamic risk models to help rate insurers - ask for input from company actuaries re: reserve distr
- companies start to use dynamic risk models in internal risk management
- Solvency II regulations in Europe emphasize unpaid claim distributions
what are two assumptions that can be made to create the bootstrap model that reproduces the CL model?
(Shapland)
- assume each AY has same dev. factor
- assume each AY has a parameter representing its relative level
what do the CL, BF and CC assume about homogeneity of AY?
Shapland
- CL assumes AY are NOT homogeneous
- BF and CC assume some homogeneity by incorporating future expected results into reserve estimate
for the error distribution of an ODP model, what z values represent which distributions?
(Shapland)
z=0 : Normal
z=1 : ODP
z=2 : Gamma
z=3 : Inverse Gaussian
what is one important property of the over-dispersed Poisson model?
(Shapland)
fitted incremental claims will exactly equal the fitted incremental claims derived using the standard CL factors
what are three important consequences of the fact that the ODP incr fitted claims match the CL method?
(Shapland)
- simple LR algorithm can be used in place of more complicated GLM algorithm
- use of age-to-age factors serves as a bridge to deterministic framework - more easily explain model
- log link function doesn’t work for negative incr claims - link ratios remedies this issue
what types of residuals are used for the ODP model, and why?
Shapland
Pearson residuals are used - they are calculated consistently with the scale parameter, phi
what does sampling with replacement assume about residuals?
Shapland
assumes they are independent and identically distributed
what does sampling with replacement require about the distribution of residual,s and why is it an advantage?
(Shapland)
-does NOT require normal distribution -> distributional form of residuals will flow through the simulation process
why is the ODP bootstrap model sometimes referred to as “semi-parametric”?
(Shapland)
-we are not parameterizing the residuals
why do England & Verrall say the distribution of points (in the sample triangles from residuals) should be multiplied by a D.o.F adjustment factor?
(Shapland)
-allow for over-dispersion of the residuals in the sampling process
AND
-add process variance to obtain a distribution of possible outcomes
why might we multiply the Pearson residuals by f^DoF up front?
(Shapland)
to correct for bias in the residuals
what are Pearson residuals * f^DoF known as?
Shapland
scaled Pearson residuals
does the degrees of freedom bias correction create standardized residuals, and why is it important?
(Shapland)
NO - important because standardized residuals ensure that each residual has the same variance (assuming model fit to data is properly specified)
if heteroscedasticity exists within the Pearson residuals, what might it indicate?
(Shapland)
- could indicate that something other than a Poisson distribution should be used
- might mean we need more predictors
how is the hat matrix viewed, compared to the degrees of freedom factor?
(Shapland)
replacement for AND improvement over DoF factor
what do we assume about each future incremental claim (m_w,d), in order to include process variance?
(Shapland)
- assume each future incremental claim, m_w,d is the mean of a gamma distr
- assume that phi*m_w,d is the variance of a gamma distribution
what type of residuals do we exclude when sampling, and why?
Shapland
-exclude zero-value residuals, because those cells contain variance - we just don’t know what it is yet
what does the distribution of possible outcomes represent when the ODP bootstrapping model is applied to paid data?
(Shapland)
represents total unpaid claims
what does the distribution of possible outcomes represent when the ODP bootstrapping model is applied to incurred data?
(Shapland)
represents IBNR
how do we apply Approach 1 for modeling an unpaid loss distribution using incurred data?
(Shapland)
- run paid data model in conjunction with incurred data model
- use random pmt pattern from each iteration of the paid data model to convert ultimate values from each incurred model iteration to develop pd losses by AY
what is a benefit to Approach 1 for modeling an unpaid loss distr. using incurred data?
(Shapland)
allows us to use case reserves to help predict ultimate losses, while still focusing on pmt stream for measuring risk
what is an improvement to Approach 1 for modeling an unpaid loss distr. using incurred data?
(Shapland)
-inclusion of correlation between paid and incurred models (possibly in residual sampling process)
how do we apply Approach 2 for modeling an unpaid loss distr. using incurred data?
(Shapland)
-apply ODP bootstrap to the Munich CL (MCL) model
how does the Munich Chain Ladder model predict ultimate losses?
(Shapland)
- uses inherent relationship/correlation between paid and incurred losses to predict ultimate losses
- when paid losses are low relative to incurred losses, future paid loss dev. tends to be higher than average
- when paid losses are high relative to incurred losses - future paid loss dev. tends to be lower than average
what are two advantages of Approach 2 over Approach 1? (for modeling an unpaid loss distr. using incurred data)
(Shapland)
- doesn’t require us to model paid losses twice
- explicitly measures correlation between paid and incurred losses
what is an issues with using the ODP bootstrap procces?
Shapland
iterations for latest few AY tend to be more variable than what we would expect, given the simulations from earlier AY
why do ODP boostrap iterations for latest few AY tend to be more variable than what we’d expect?
(Shapland)
-more age-to-age factors are used to extrapolate sampled values to develop point estimates for each iteration
how do we fix the issue that latest few AY tend to be more variable than expected when using the ODP boostrap process?
(Shapland)
- can extrapolate future incremental values using the BF or CC methods
- can make these methods stochastic by converting deterministic assumptions to stochastic assumptions
what are two drawbacks to the GLM bootstrap model?
Shapland
- GLM must be solved for each iteration of the bootstrap model -> may slow down simulation
- model is no longer directly explainable to others using age-to-age factors
what are four benefits to the GLM bootstrap model?
Shapland
- fewer parameters helps avoid over-parameterizing the model
- ability to add params for CY trends
- ability to model data shapes other than triangles
- allows us to match the model params to the statistical features found in the data, and to extrapolate those features
what is an issue with adding a CY trend to the GLM bootstrap model, and how do we deal with it?
(Shapland)
- system of equations no longer has a unique answer
- instead, start with a model with one parameter of alpha, beta, gamma each, remove and add as needed
what is an example of matching the GLM bootstrap model parameters to statistical features found in the data?
(Shapland)
- modeling with fewer dev. trend parameters -> last parameter is assumed to continue past the end of the triangle
- gives us a tail without specifying a tail factor
how do we produce point estimates using the GLM bootstrap model?
(Shapland)
-do NOT apply age-to-age factors to each sample triangle -> instead, fit same GLM model underlying residuals to each sample triangle, and use resulting params to produce ultimates and reserve point estimates
what is one drawback of the using the GLM boostrap model to produce point estimates?
(Shapland)
-additional time is required to fit a GLM to each sample triangle
what are three options for dealing with extreme outcomes?
Shapland
- identify the extreme iterations and remove them
- recalibrate the model
- limit incremental losses to zero
when removing extreme iterations, what do we need to be careful about?
(Shapland)
be careful to only remove unreasonable extreme iterations so that the probability is not understated
how would we go about recalibrating a model to deal with extreme iterations?
(Shapland)
- identify source of negative incremental losses and remove it if necessary, then reparameterize the model
- alternatively, could create separate models (e.g. if salvage/sub. cause negative values, model them separately, and combine iterations)
what does it mean to limit incremental losses to zero in dealing with extreme outcomes?
(Shapland)
- replace negative incrementals with zeros in original triangles, sampled triangles, OR projected future incremental losses
- can also replace negative incr losses with zeroes based on their dev. column
what is an argument in favor of adjusting residuals s.t. their average is zero?
(Shapland)
- if avg of residuals is positive, then re-sampling from the residuals will add variability to resampled incremental losses
- may also cause resampled incremental losses to have an avg. greater than the fitted loss
- in this respect, residuals should be adjusted
what is an argument against adjusting residuals to a zero average?
(Shapland)
-non-zero average of residuals is a characteristic of the data set, so they shouldn’t be adjusted
what is a method to adjust for a non-zero sum of residuals?
Shapland
add a single constant to all residuals s.t. sum of shifted residuals is zero
in the GLM bootstrap, how would we go about using an L-year weighted average?
(Shapland)
- exclude first few diagonals in triangle (leaves us with L+1 included diagonals)
- excluded diagonals are given 0 weight in model, fewer CY params are required
- only sample residuals for trapezoid used to parameterize original model
when using an L-year weighted average with the GLM bootstrap, why do we only sample residuals for the trapezoid used to parameterize the original model?
(Shapland)
- GLM models incremental claims directly, can be parameterized using a trapezoid
- each parameter set is used to project the sample triangles to ultimate
how do we use an L-year weighted average with the ODP bootstrap?
(Shapland)
- calculate L-year avg. factors instead of all-year factors
- exclude first few diagonals when calculating residuals
- still sample residuals for entire triangle when running bootstrap simulations
why do we still need to sample residuals for the entire triangle when using an L-year weighted average with the ODP bootstrap model?
(Shapland)
- ODP boostrap requires cumulative values in order to calculate link ratios
- once we have cumulative values for each sample triangle, we use -year avg factors to project sample triangles to ultimate
what calculations are affected by missing values from the loss triangle?
(Shapland)
- LDFs
- fitted triangle (if missing value lies on last diagonal)
- residuals
- degrees of freedom
what are approaches to managing missing values in the ODP bootstrap model?
(Shapland)
- estimate missing value using surrounding values
- exclude missing value when calculating LDFs
- if missing value lies on last diagonal - estimate value OR use value in second-last diagonal to construct fitted triangle
what is a consequence of excluding missing values when using the ODP bootstrap model?
(Shapland)
- no corresponding residual will be calculated for the missing value
- must still sample for entire triangle so we can calculate cumulative values during simulation process
- once sample triangles are calculated, exclude cells corresponding to missing values from the projection process (ie - when calculating LDFs)
what happens when there are missing values, when we are using the GLM bootstrap model?
(Shapland)
- missing data reduces number of observations used in model
- could use a method from ODP bootstrap model to estimate missing data if desired
what are two approaches to managing outliers when using the ODP bootstrap model?
(Shapland)
- exclude outliers completely (proceed in same manner as missing value)
- exclude outliers when calculating age-to-age factors and residuals (similar to missing values),, but include outlier cells during sample projection process
what is the idea behind excluding outliers in residual/LDF calcs, but including during sample triangle projection process?
(Shapland)
-remove extreme impact of incremental cell by excluding outlier during the fitting process, while still including some non-extreme variability by including cell in sample triangle projection process
what are three ways to exclude outliers when calculating age-to-age factors?
(Shapland)
- exclude in numerator
- exclude in denominator
- exclude in numerator
how are outliers treated when using the GLM bootstrap model?
Shapland
-treated similarly to missing data: if considered not representative of real variability, outlier should be excluded and model shoild be parameterized without it
what might a significant number of outliers indicate?
Shapland
model may be a poor fit to the data
what might we do if there are a significant number of outliers when using the GLM bootstrap?
(Shapland)
-new parameters could be chosen
OR
-distribution of error (z param) could be changed
what might we do if there are a significant number of outliers when using the ODP bootstrap?
(Shapland)
-an L-year wtd avg may be used to provide a better model fit
what might a large number of outliers mean for the ODP bootstrap and why?
(Shapland)
-may just mean that residuals are highly skewed because ODP bootstrap doesn’t require a specific distribution for residuals)
if residuals are highly skewed, what action should be taken when using the ODP bootstrap model?
(Shapland)
-outliers should be included in fitting process to replicate true nature of the residuals