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Longevity risk and the Grim Reaper's toxic tail: The survivor fan charts

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  • Blake, David
  • Dowd, Kevin
  • Cairns, Andrew J.G.

Abstract

This paper uses survivor fan charts to illustrate the prospective density functions of future male survival rates. The fan charts are based on a version of the Cairns-Blake-Dowd model of male mortality that provides a good fit to recent mortality data for England and Wales. They indicate that although none of us can escape the Grim Reaper, survivorship uncertainty is greatest for males aged a little over 90, confirming that there exists a [`]toxic tail' for those institutions, such as annuity and pension providers, which are obliged to make payments to them for as long as they live. We also find that taking account of uncertainty in the parameters of the underlying mortality model leads to major increases in estimates of the widths of the fan charts.

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  • Blake, David & Dowd, Kevin & Cairns, Andrew J.G., 2008. "Longevity risk and the Grim Reaper's toxic tail: The survivor fan charts," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 1062-1066, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:insuma:v:42:y:2008:i:3:p:1062-1066
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Cairns, Andrew J. G., 2000. "A discussion of parameter and model uncertainty in insurance," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 313-330, December.
    2. Renshaw, A.E. & Haberman, S., 2008. "On simulation-based approaches to risk measurement in mortality with specific reference to Poisson Lee-Carter modelling," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 797-816, April.
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    5. Andrew J. G. Cairns & David Blake & Kevin Dowd, 2006. "A Two‐Factor Model for Stochastic Mortality with Parameter Uncertainty: Theory and Calibration," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 73(4), pages 687-718, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Blake David & Cairns Andrew & Dowd Kevin, 2008. "The Birth of the Life Market," Asia-Pacific Journal of Risk and Insurance, De Gruyter, vol. 3(1), pages 1-32, September.
    2. Blake, David & Cairns, Andrew J.G., 2021. "Longevity risk and capital markets: The 2019-20 update," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 395-439.
    3. Olivia S. Mitchell, 2018. "Enhancing risk management for an aging world," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance Theory, Springer;International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics (The Geneva Association), vol. 43(2), pages 115-136, September.
    4. Raimond Maurer & Olivia S. Mitchell & Ralph Rogalla & Vasily Kartashov, 2013. "Lifecycle Portfolio Choice With Systematic Longevity Risk and Variable Investment—Linked Deferred Annuities," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 80(3), pages 649-676, September.
    5. Blake, David & El Karoui, Nicole & Loisel, Stéphane & MacMinn, Richard, 2018. "Longevity risk and capital markets: The 2015–16 update," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 157-173.
    6. Bohm, Thomas & Waldvogel, Felix, 2012. "Etablierung eines außerbörslichen Kapitalmarktes für das Langlebigkeitsrisiko," Bayreuth Working Papers on Finance, Accounting and Taxation (FAcT-Papers) 2012-02, University of Bayreuth, Chair of Finance and Banking.
    7. Blake, David & Cairns, Andrew & Dowd, Kevin, 2008. "Turning pension plans into pension planes: What investment strategy designers of defined contribution pension plans can learn from commercial aircraft designers," MPRA Paper 33749, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. David Blake & Christophe Courbage & Richard MacMinn & Michael Sherris, 2011. "Longevity Risk and Capital Markets: The 2010–2011 Update," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 36(4), pages 489-500, October.
    9. Fujisawa Yosuke & Li Johnny Siu-Hang, 2011. "IFRS Convergence: The Role of Stochastic Mortality Models in the Disclosure of Longevity Risk for Defined Benefit Plans," Asia-Pacific Journal of Risk and Insurance, De Gruyter, vol. 5(1), pages 1-27, March.
    10. David Blake & Andrew Cairns & Guy Coughlan & Kevin Dowd & Richard MacMinn, 2013. "The New Life Market," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 80(3), pages 501-558, September.
    11. Cannon, Edmund & Tonks, Ian, 2016. "Cohort mortality risk or adverse selection in annuity markets?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 68-81.
    12. David Blake, 2018. "Longevity: a new asset class," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 19(5), pages 278-300, September.
    13. Li, J.S.H. & Ng, A.C.Y. & Chan, W.S., 2013. "Stochastic life table forecasting: A time-simultaneous fan chart application," Mathematics and Computers in Simulation (MATCOM), Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 98-107.
    14. Blake, David & Brockett, Patrick & Cox, Samuel & MacMinn, Richard, 2011. "Longevity risk and capital markets: The 2009-2010 update," MPRA Paper 28868, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Yang, Sharon S. & Wang, Chou-Wen, 2013. "Pricing and securitization of multi-country longevity risk with mortality dependence," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(2), pages 157-169.
    16. Kogure, Atsuyuki & Kurachi, Yoshiyuki, 2010. "A Bayesian approach to pricing longevity risk based on risk-neutral predictive distributions," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 162-172, February.
    17. Li, Johnny Siu-Hang & Chan, Wai-Sum, 2011. "Time-simultaneous prediction bands: A new look at the uncertainty involved in forecasting mortality," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(1), pages 81-88, July.
    18. David Blake & Tom Boardman & Andrew Cairns, 2014. "Sharing Longevity Risk: Why Governments Should Issue Longevity Bonds," North American Actuarial Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(1), pages 258-277.
    19. Tomas Cipra, 2010. "Securitization of Longevity and Mortality Risk," Czech Journal of Economics and Finance (Finance a uver), Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, vol. 60(6), pages 545-560, December.
    20. Lin, Tzuling & Tzeng, Larry Y., 2010. "An additive stochastic model of mortality rates: An application to longevity risk in reserve evaluation," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 423-435, April.
    21. Kevin Dowd & David Blake & Andrew J. G. Cairns, 2016. "The Myth of Methuselah and the Uncertainty of Death: The Mortality Fan Charts," Risks, MDPI, vol. 4(3), pages 1-7, July.

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