Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2003 iii Paper 39 1 i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Use the usual aggregate claims model assumption that the claim count is independent of the sequence of severities. Conditional on , the probability generating function of the sum is the product of the severity generating functions. The empty sum has value zero. Thus the law of total expectation gives the random-sum transform identityfor , with the usual continuous interpretation at .
For a claim count distribution in the Panjer claim-count class, multiply the count recurrence by and sum. With ,Consequently , orThe chain rule applied to the composition then gives
For , compare the coefficients of . The two products giveMove the term to the left and combine the remaining coefficients, since . The Panjer recursion with zero severities is thereforeFor the usual nondegenerate proper Panjer laws, , so . If a degenerate count is represented by redundant constants making this denominator zero, the aggregate is identically zero and must be handled directly rather than dividing by zero.
Because severities are nonnegative, the aggregate is zero exactly when every included severity is zero. Count-severity independence gives the initializationIn particular generally exceeds when zero severities are possible.
The count-severity independence is necessary and is implicit, rather than explicitly stated, in the printed random-sum setup. For a concrete counterexample without it, take independent Bernoulli- variables and put . Then , so , whereas . Independence of the among themselves alone cannot justify the requested formula.