The European Central Bank (ECB) is the central banking authority of the euro zone that comprises the nineteen European Union (EU) member states that have adopted the euro as their common currency. The ECB was established in 1998 by the…
The 2019 Nobel Prize in Economics has been awarded jointly to Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer for their work in development economics. In the mid-1990’s at Harvard University, Michael Kremer began studying the nature of poverty by the…
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) held its annual meeting this month in Washington in collaboration with the World Bank. In a closing statement, the policy-setting committee for the 189-nation IMF commented that global growth should accelerate next year, although officials…
The Social Security 2100 Act, which was previously discussed in the August 2014 edition of Commentary, has been modified and updated. This proposed legislation would strengthen the United States Social Security system, known as Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance (OASDI),…
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe observed that “history is a great fugue in which the voices of nations one after the other emerge”. The Roman Empire with its classical civilization was dominant some two thousand years ago until its ultimate collapse…
The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was established by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013. BRI consists of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. It aims to boost connectivity along and beyond the routes…
According to the World Bank’s 2019 World Development Report, advances in technology provide opportunities to create new jobs, increase productivity, and deliver effective public services, while generating new economic sectors and new kinds of tasks. As a result of these…
The 2019 Annual Report of the Trustees of the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance (OASDI) Trust Funds presents information regarding the financial status of the U.S. Social Security system. The Board of Trustees is composed of six…
The actuarial profession had its a minimis incipe moment in 1848 in London when a small group of individuals who were engaged in insurance met to discuss the need for a professional association and agreed to principles for the basis…
The International Actuarial Association holds its 2019 colloquium in Cape Town, South Africa, in early April with about 500 expected delegates to attend from around the world. The organizers have selected as a theme for the colloquium “The Modern Actuary:…