Underwriting Cycles in the Property-Casualty Insurance Industry [Review]

The property/casualty combined ratio has become extremely volatile. In the last eight years, record underwriting profits and losses have occurred; the combined ratio has fluctuated up and down by about 10 points and is rising again. As Casualty Actuaries we should be concerned about this phenomenon. Many of us are responsible for the financial stability of our companies. I find it surprising, therefore, that the Proceedings of the Casualty Actuarial Society do not contain a single paper on the underwriting cycle. In fact, as Kaye James points out, there appears to be no in-depth analysis of the industry cycle. Therefore she has performed a valuable service in presenting this paper to the Casualty Actuarial Society.