Risk Classification in Insurance Contracting

Risk classification refers to the use of observable characteristics by insurers to group individuals with similar expected claims, compute the corresponding premiums, and thereby reduce asymmetric information. An efficient risk classification system generates premiums that fully reflect the expected cost associated with each class of risk characteristics. This is known as financial equity. In the health sector, risk classification is also subject to concerns about social equity and potential discrimination. We present different theoretical frameworks that illustrate the potential trade-off between efficient insurance provision and social equity. We also review empirical studies on risk classification and residual asymmetric information.Adverse selection, classification risk, diagnostic test, empirical test of asymmetric information, financial equity, genetic test, health insurance, insurance rating, insurance pricing, moral hazard, risk classification, risk characteristic, risk pooling, risk separation, social equity

Parameterization of the set of positive- definite matrices and an algorithm for its generation

Numerical analysis on set elements for positive definite symmetric matrices by parameterizatio

Algorithm for Liapunov stability analysis

Development of algorithm provides automatic computation of quadratic estimate of domain of stability for stable equilibrium states of nonlinear systems of ordinary differential equations

Further development of an algorithm for the nonlinear stability analysis of the orbiting astronomical observatory paired-tracker control system Final report

Algorithm development for estimating domain of attraction of OAO paired-tracker equilibrium state with Liapunov function

Payoff Continuity in Incomplete Information Games: A Comment

Kajii and Morris (J. Econ. Theory 1998, 267-276) provide necessary and sufficient conditions for two priors to be strategically close. The restrictiveness of these con- ditions establishes that strategic behavior can be highly sensitive to the assumed prior. Their results thus recommend care in the use of priors in economic modelling. Unfortunately, their proof of a central proposition fails for zero probability types. This comment corrects their proof to account for these cases

Cell-free prediction of protein expression costs for growing cells

Translating heterologous proteins places significant burden on host cells, consuming expression resources leading to slower cell growth and productivity. Yet predicting the cost of protein production for any given gene is a major challenge, as multiple processes and factors combine to determine translation efficiency. To enable prediction of the cost of gene expression in bacteria, we describe here a standard cell-free lysate assay that provides a relative measure of resource consumption when a protein coding sequence is expressed. These lysate measurements can then be used with a computational model of translation to predict the in vivo burden placed on growing E. coli cells for a variety of proteins of different functions and lengths. Using this approach, we can predict the burden of expressing multigene operons of different designs and differentiate between the fraction of burden related to gene expression compared to action of a metabolic pathway

The Evolution of Reciprocity in Sizable Human Groups

The scale and complexity of human cooperation is an important and unresolved evo- lutionary puzzle. This article uses the finitely repeated n person Prisoners’ Dilemma game to illustrate how sapience can greatly enhance group-selection effects and lead to the evolutionary stability of cooperation in large groups. This affords a simple and direct explanation of the human “exception.

Risk Classification and Health Insurance

Risk classification refers to the use of observable characteristics by insurers to group individuals with similar expected claims, compute the corresponding premiums, and thereby reduce asymmetric information. With perfect risk classification, premiums fully reflect the expected cost associated with each class of risk characteristics and yield efficient outcomes. In the health sector, risk classification is also subject to concerns about social equity and potential discrimination. We present an analytical framework that illustrates the potential trade-off between efficient insurance provision and social equity. We also review empirical studies on risk classification and residual asymmetric information that inform this trade-off

Spectra and positions of galactic gamma-ray sources

The UCSD/MIT Hard X-Ray and Low Energy Gamma-Ray Experiment aboard HEAO-1 scanned the galactic center region during three epochs in 1977 and 1978 from 13 to 180 keV. The results are presented from the scanning epoch of 1978 September. Twenty-two known 2 to 10 keV source positions were necessary for an acceptable fit to the data. The spectra of the 16 strongest, least confused sources are all consistent with power laws with photon spectral indices ranging from 2.1 to 7.2. Acceptable fits to thermal bremsstrahlung models are also possible for most sources. No one source in this survey can be extrapolated to higher energy to match the intensity of the gamma-ray continuum as measured by HEAO-1 large field of view detectors, which implies that the continuum is a composite of contributions from a number of sources