New better than used in expectation 2026-10-14
A nonnegative lifetime or claim law is new better than used in expectation if its mean residual life at every age with positive survival is at most its original mean. The displayed equivalent inequality says that its equilibrium claim-size distribution is no larger in stochastic order than the original law. For an Erlang distribution of shape two and rate one, the two survival functions are and , so the condition holds.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 40 2 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Set . The compound Poisson distribution variance identity and the per-claim excess of loss reinsurance payouts giveApply differentiation under the integral sign. The endpoint terms in the first two terms cancel, while the last integrand is zero at its lower endpoint. Equivalently, differentiate the two payout squares inside their expected values; the finite second moment supplies a dominating integrable function. This gives the total variance stationary condition for excess of lossHence the specified equality makes . When , its interpretation is , where the mean residual life is .
For the exponential distribution of mean , andThus is negative below and positive above it. The variance-minimizing exponential retention is the unique global minimizerFor an explicit value, put . The capped claim moments and the excess-claim second moment giveThe sign argument establishes global minimality, rather than just stationarity.
Total variance stationary condition for excess of loss Created 2026-10-07 Updated 2026-10-14
For positive claim sizes with finite second moment in a compound Poisson distribution aggregate of parameter , the two excess of loss reinsurance payouts are and . The derivative of their total aggregate variance is . Thus the displayed condition characterizes stationarity. When the tail probability is positive it says that the retention equals the mean residual life. Global minimality requires an additional sign or comparison argument.