A Survey of Loss Reserving Methods [Discussion]

Mr. Skurnick has performed a great service to the students of the Casualty Actuarial Society in the preparation and publication of his paper. Likewise, he has provided the practicing actuary with a consistent and valuable set of definitions for use in the loss reserving field and a comprehensive research and reference source. He has done an excellent job of organizing, distilling, and interrelating a broad spectrum of analytic approaches to loss reserving. The primary thrust of Mr. Skurnick’s paper is educational, and this review will consider it in that light. Thus, a portion of the review will be devoted to comments on specific items in the paper and Mr. Skurnick’s interpretation of those items. Because I hope the paper will also serve as a catalyst for further papers in the area of reserving, the remainder of the review is devoted to the description of a broad approach to the selection and application of loss reserving methods.