This paper uses an extension of a theorem of Polya to derive bounds for the variance of a random variable. These are applied to maxima and minima of a sample and the bounds are found to be quite good.

An examination of the efficiency of the marketing distribution channel and organizational structure for insurance companies is presented from a framework that views the insurer as a financial intermediary rather than as a "production entity" which produces "value added" through loss payments....

This study examines the effect of the statistical/mathematical model selected and the variable set considered on the ability to identify financially troubled life insurers. Models considered are two artificial neural network methods (back-propagation and learning vector quantization (LVQ)) and...

In a mean-variance framework, the indifference pricing approach is adopted to value weather derivatives, taking account of portfolio effects. Our analysis shows how the magnitude of portfolio effects is related to the correlation between weather indexes and other risky assets, the correlation...