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Reminder: Call for Essays on Social Inflation

The Ratemaking, Reserving, Reinsurance, and Risk research working groups of the Casualty Actuarial Society are jointly sponsoring a peer-reviewed call for essays on social inflation. A total prize fund of $10,000 is available for essays submitted in response to the call. Both CAS members and non-members are eligible to submit essays.

Social Inflation

Although specific definitions vary, social inflation is generally understood to encompass year-over-year changes in claim cost, which exceeds general consumer price indices. Beyond that, definitions may or may not include features such as:

  • Psychological theory about jury behavior
  • Operational changes in civil courts which tend to exacerbate damage awards
  • Non-traditional sources of financial support for plaintiffs which increase either the frequency or total cost of filed suits.
  • Rare, but severe “nuclear verdicts” which drag the overall average insurance burden upwards

Essay Topics

The working groups are not prescriptive about what issues should be addressed by the essays. Potential topics may include but are not limited to:

  • Practical methods to reflect social inflation in prospective rates
  • Identification and reflection of social inflation in liability reserves
  • Consideration of claim handling methods which may influence costs
  • Analytic methods which can detect relative differences in the existence and magnitude of social inflation phenomena by region and/or coverage type.

Details

Completed essays should be sent to Mike Boa at mboa@casact.org with the subject line "2023 Social Inflation Essay." Questions about the call may be sent to Brian as well.

Essays should be complete by September 30, 2023.  Each essay should be no more than five pages (roughly 3,500 words) and may include, but are not limited to:

  • Methodological proposals,
  • Editorial/commentary,
  • Survey papers,
  • Case studies,
  • Application guidance,
  • Speculative fiction.

A group of reviewers will make the final determination of which essays are published, which authors are invited to present their essays, and whether any essays will be recognized with an award from the prize fund.

Essays will be judged on the following criteria, weighted as shown in the parentheses

  • Novelty (30%)
  • Practicality (30%)
  • Quality of expression (20%)
  • Anticipated impact (20%)

Essays will be published on the CAS website in Q4 2023.