We compare quantitatively eight stochastic models explaining improvements in mortality rates in England &Wales and in the US. On the basis of the Bayes Information Criterion (BIC), we find that an extension of the Cairns, Blake & Dowd (2006b) model that incorporates the cohort effect fits the...

We use a case study of a pension plan wishing to hedge the longevity risk in its pension liabilities at a future date. The plan has the choice of using either a customized hedge or an index hedge, with the degree of hedge effectiveness being closely related to the correlation between the value...

Government-issued longevity bonds would allow longevity risk to be shared efficiently and fairly between generations. In exchange for paying a longevity risk premium, the current generation of retirees can look to future generations to hedge their aggregate longevity risk. There are also wider...

Derivative longevity risk solutions, such as bespoke and indexed longevity swaps, allow pension schemes and annuity providers to swap out longevity risk, but introduce counterparty credit risk, which can be mitigated if not fully eliminated by collateralization. We examine the impact of...

Governments are among the few agencies that can help the private sector hedge against the increasing problem of aggregate longevity risk. David Blake, Tom Boardman, Andrew Cairns and Kevin Dowd from the Pensions Institute at Cass Business School urge governments to issue longevity bonds as soon...

This study sets out a framework to evaluate the goodness of fit of stochastic mortality models and applies it to six different models estimated using English & Welsh male mortality data. The methodology exploits the structure of each model to obtain various residual series that are predicted to...

This study sets out a backtesting framework applicable to the multi-period-ahead forecasts from stochastic mortality models and uses it to evaluate the forecasting performance of six different stochastic mortality models applied to English & Welsh male mortality data. The models considered are:...

Life expectancy differs from person to person, population to population and pension scheme to pension scheme. So, your scheme members' mortality experience will be unique. Age is its dominant determinant, but life expectancy is influenced by other factors including gender, geographical location,...

This paper seeks to assess the potential longer-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on those who survive. We propose a simple model for accelerated deaths that draws on the observation that many of those who die from COVID-19 are often, but not always, much less healthy than the average for...