Fix positive claim expected value and relative safety loading in a classical risk model. Assume the random claim law has an adjustment coefficient . By Jensen inequality, . Thus . The expression on the left is strictly convex, has negative derivative at zero and tends to infinity, so its unique positive zero satisfies . If the claim size is not almost surely constant, strict Jensen inequality gives . Consequently the Lundberg inequality upper bound for deterministic claims is smaller for . Comparing these upper bounds alone does not establish an ordering of actual ultimate ruin probabilities.
Expected value premium principle 2026-10-13
Exponential tilt of the ruin renewal kernel 2026-10-07
The ultimate ruin probability satisfies a tail-forced defective renewal equation. Multiplying it by at an adjustment coefficient turns its kernel into the probability density . Normalization is exactly . The density is absolutely continuous even when the original claim law has atoms; thus it has a nonarithmetic distribution.
Finite-claim ruin probability 2026-10-14
In a classical risk model, is the time of the th claim. The displayed probability restricts ruin to the first claims and increases to the ultimate ruin probability. Conditioning on the first arrival and severity gives , with . For exponential distribution claims of mean and relative safety loading , put and . Then and . The recursion follows because a surviving first claim leaves fresh independent future arrivals and claims. The formulas follow by integrating the rate- first-arrival density; the claim-arrival rate cancels with .
Starting from capital , ruin occurs exactly when the aggregate loss exceeds . Positive relative safety loading and the strong law of large numbers make tend to minus infinity, so its supremum is finite almost surely. For exponential distribution claims of rate , has an atom at zero, and, conditional on , has exponential distribution of rate . The ultimate ruin probability determines this mixture directly.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 iii Paper 35 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Write the surplus in the classical risk model as , with premium rate . The adjustment coefficient is the positive solution ofFor the exponential distribution of mean , for . Cancelling the nonzero root in its equation gives , and henceIt is strictly between zero and , as required by the transform domain.
The ultimate ruin probability is . The Lundberg inequality statesRuin can occur only at a claim arrival. Thus the event defining the finite-claim ruin probability is contained in the ultimate ruin event, giving for every and .
For the explicit calculations, take , put and , and let be the first arrival time. It has rate- exponential distribution, independent of the severity. Ruin on the first claim is the event , soFor ruin by the second claim, condition on whether the first claim ruins the insurer or leaves capital . The independent future arrivals and severities have the same law as a fresh classical risk model. ThereforeThe two terms in the first line refer to disjoint ruin events, so there is no double counting.
For a direct check of the Lundberg inequality, now . The ratio is less than one. For the second finite-claim ruin probability, put and . Its ratio is . Sincethe derivative of this ratio is for , and its value at zero is . This verifies both required bounds directly from the calculated probabilities.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2003 iii Paper 39 3 i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
In the classical risk model, the surplus with initial capital iswhere is a Poisson process of rate , and the nonnegative independent claim sizes, of mean , are independent of that process. Positive relative safety loading makes expected premium income exceed expected claim outflow. With ruin time , the ultimate ruin probability isThe adjustment coefficient is the positive root in the finite domain of the claim moment-generating function satisfyingThe zero root is excluded by definition.
Under the stated transform-divergence assumption this positive root exists and is unique. Indeed has , derivative , and strictly positive second derivative on its positive domain. At a finite endpoint the diverging transform makes positive eventually. At an infinite endpoint, choose with ; the bound makes it dominate the linear term. Strict convexity then gives exactly one positive crossing. This is the secant-slope existence criterion for an adjustment coefficient.
The Lundberg inequality isFor a short justification, the compound-Poisson transform and the defining equation make a nonnegative martingale starting at . Stop it at , a bounded stopping time. On its value is greater than one. The optional stopping theorem therefore gives ; let increase to infinity. No expectation identity at an unbounded ruin time is required.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2004 iii Paper 41 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
For nontrivial positive claim sizes in the classical risk model and , the adjustment coefficient is the unique positive solutionIndeed, has , , and is strictly convex. It becomes positive near the right endpoint of the moment-generating function domain. For a finite endpoint this follows from the assumed divergence; for an infinite endpoint, for some gives an exponential lower bound on , which eventually exceeds any linear function. Convexity gives existence and uniqueness of the positive crossing and .
Put and . Substituting into the supplied survival renewal equation for a classical risk model, and using , yieldsMultiplying by gives the proper renewal-type equationThe exponential tilt of the ruin renewal kernel turns a defective kernel into a probability density function, because the tail integration identity givesThis identity follows also by integrating and applying Tonelli theorem. The tilted probability density function defines a nonarithmetic distribution, even if the claim size probability distribution itself has atoms.
Differentiate to calculate its mean:It is finite and positive because is inside the finite moment-generating function domain. Next, reversing the order of integration givesThe forcing function is directly Riemann integrable. Choose with . Markov's inequality bounds by , so is bounded by a constant times . It is continuous; on finite intervals continuity controls its Riemann sums, and the exponential envelope controls the tails. These are sufficient conditions for direct Riemann integrability.
Iterating the renewal equation by convolution gives , where is the renewal measure. The remainder after iterations is bounded on each fixed interval by a constant times the chance that a sum of positive interarrivals remains in that interval, which tends to zero. The key renewal theorem, applicable to this nonarithmetic distribution of finite mean and the directly integrable forcing, now gives the interior adjustment coefficient ruin prefactor:Both numerator and denominator are positive, so .
For the unit-rate shape-two Erlang distribution, , and . Write , so positive loading requires . Dividing the adjustment coefficient equation by its nonzero root gives . ThusThe last simplification uses ; it is the Erlang shape-two ruin prefactor. Its value depends on the premium-to-arrival ratio, which is not specified numerically.
For the final exponential representation, evaluating at zero in the survival renewal equation for a classical risk model gives . If the slower term is present, necessarily and . Comparing with the finite positive asymptotic constant just proved yieldsA smaller adjustment coefficient would make the limit zero and a larger one would make it infinite. Here the leading exponential term determines a ruin adjustment coefficient. The coefficient need not be assumed positive to identify the leading term.
The wording does not specify that is nonzero. If and , the only surviving term instead gives , and . This case is realizable: claims with an exponential distribution of rate have ultimate ruin probability . Negative would make the ultimate ruin probability negative for large , and both coefficients zero are incompatible with a nontrivial positive claim rate and mean. These observations specify the coefficient qualification needed for the usual answer.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 iii Paper 43 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
In the classical risk model, the insurer's surplus iswhere is initial capital, is a Poisson process of rate , and the claim sizes are positive independent and identically distributed random variables with expected value , independent of the claim-arrival process. Premium flows in at constant rate . A positive relative safety loading meansso premium income exceeds the expected claim cost per unit time. The ruin stopping time is , with if ruin never occurs, and the ultimate ruin probability is .
Assume the stated positive adjustment coefficient exists and that the claim moment-generating function is finite at . The Lundberg inequality isHere is a proof, including the stopping argument. By conditioning on the Poisson distribution of , the random-sum transform identity givesThe adjustment coefficient equation is . Consequently the exponential surplus martingalehas expected value one at every finite time. More strongly, the claim process has independent increments, so for ,Thus is a nonnegative continuous-time martingale for the filtration generated by arrivals and claim sizes. For a fixed finite horizon , the optional stopping theorem at the bounded stopping time gives . This bounded use is legitimate: the stopped values belong to the closed martingale on given by conditional expectations of the integrable variable .
On , the surplus is negative, and therefore . By nonnegativity on the complementary event,The ruin events increase to as increases, so continuity of probability gives the claimed Lundberg inequality. No expectation identity at the unbounded stopping time is needed. Positive loading by itself does not guarantee a positive adjustment coefficient for every claim law; the existence assumption is used here.
For the exponential distribution of claim sizes, for . Substitution in the adjustment coefficient equation givesDiscard the zero root and divide by . The unique positive solution iswhich lies strictly inside the finite-transform domain.
For deterministic claim sizes, the claim moment-generating function is . Define . It satisfies , , , and as . Thus its strict convexity gives exactly one positive zero , with for .
Put . Since , we have . HenceIt follows thatThus the deterministic-claim Lundberg inequality provides a smaller upper bound at positive capital; at zero capital both bounds equal one. This is a special case of deterministic claims maximize the adjustment coefficient at fixed mean and loading: fixing the mean and loading, variability lowers the exponential decay coefficient relative to deterministic claims. The ordering of these upper bounds alone is not a proof that the actual ultimate ruin probabilities are ordered.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 iii Paper 45 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The claim law is an Erlang distribution of shape two and rate . Direct integration, using for , gives its moment-generating functionDifferentiating at zero gives . The positive relative safety loading condition for the classical risk model is thereforeThe adjustment coefficient is the positive root in the finite-transform domain ofSet and . For , division by reduces the equation toThe two roots are . The minus root lies strictly between zero and one: positivity follows from , and the numerator is smaller than . The plus root exceeds one and is outside the moment-generating function's domain. Consequently the adjustment coefficient for shape-two Erlang claims isThe zero root of the original equation is not an adjustment coefficient. The increasing secant slope on also establishes uniqueness of the positive root.
Now set . Under quota share reinsurance, the retained payment is . For , the change of variables yieldsHere the second gamma parameter is the rate. In particular, and . At full cession the retained payment instead has a point mass at zero.
The reinsurer's expected annual payments are , so its loaded premium is . Subtract it from the original premium income to obtain the direct insurer's net premium rateIts expected retained claim outflow is . Thusby the stipulated lower bound on . In particular , so the retained portfolio satisfies the net profitability condition. Its relative safety loading is .
Apply the same adjustment coefficient for shape-two Erlang claims formula with scale and net premium . WritinggivesEquivalently it is the positive solution, with , of
For fixed positive initial capital, a larger adjustment coefficient reduces the exponential upper bound from the Lundberg inequality. It also makes the large-capital decay exponent in the Cramér–Lundberg ruin asymptotic larger. These are the reasons for maximizing as a ruin-risk criterion; the coefficient alone need not order exact finite-capital ruin probabilities for arbitrary different models.
If , then and is constant. The equal-loading quota share and vanishing retention relation becomesThe numerator is positive for , so decreases strictly with and tends to infinity as . There is no maximizing retention in the stipulated interval ; the best limit is full cession. If the endpoint is admitted as an idealized contract, all claims are transferred and the net premium income is zero, leaving the direct insurer's capital constant and its ultimate ruin probability zero. At that endpoint the coefficient equation is identically zero, so it no longer defines a unique finite adjustment coefficient. Calling optimal requires this explicit extension of the original admissible set.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 iii Paper 45 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The surplus in the classical risk model is . With ruin defined as a strictly negative surplus, its ultimate ruin probability isLet . The first arrival time has exponential distribution of rate , independent of the first claim. Before that claim no ruin occurs, because the premium rate is positive. Given its arrival at and size , available capital just before it is . If ruin is immediate; otherwise the independent increments and fresh claim sizes make subsequent ruin probability . Thus first-claim conditioning givesThis is the ruin counterpart of the first-claim decomposition for survival probability. DefineThe convolution term is continuous: extend the bounded function by zero to negative arguments and use continuity of translations in for the integrable density . The tail function is also continuous. Changing variables to yieldsDifferentiating this exponentially weighted integral establishes differentiability rather than presuming it. The fundamental theorem of calculus givesReversing the integration variable in the convolution therefore proves the ruin integro-differential equation:At zero the derivative is the right derivative; the same representation supplies it.
For the exponential claim law, introduceDifferentiating the explicit convolution gives . Henceusing the proved integral equation. Differentiating that equation once more givesso the required ordinary differential equation isPositive relative safety loading means , so . The general solution is .
The condition at large capital must also be used. The strong law of large numbers for the Poisson process and the independent claims gives almost surely. Thus . Its path has only finitely many jumps on each bounded time interval, so its supremum over all time is finite almost surely. Therefore as , forcing . The supplied initial value then gives ultimate ruin with exponential claims:The decay rate is also the exponential-claim adjustment coefficient.
For the maximum aggregate loss in a classical risk model, the ruin event is exactly . Since , , and its full cumulative distribution function isIn particular it has an atom of mass at zero. Conditional on , its distribution is exponential with rate ; omitting that atom would give an incorrectly normalized law.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 43 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
In the classical risk model, write the surplus aswhere is the claim-arrival Poisson process. The ruin time is . The ultimate ruin probability isThe positive root in the question is the adjustment coefficient. The Lundberg inequality and the Cramér–Lundberg approximation are, respectively,The interior adjustment coefficient ruin prefactor is finite here because lies strictly inside the finite domain of the moment-generating function; the claim-size density supplies the nonarithmetic condition for the asymptotic. Strict convexity makes its denominator positive. The approximation is an asymptotic statement, while the inequality is a bound at every nonnegative initial capital.
The inequality can also be seen directly from the exponential surplus martingale . Its expectation factor per unit time is zero in the exponent because . Apply the optional stopping theorem at , a bounded time. On , , so . Increasing proves the bound without stopping at an unbounded time.
For any nonnegative claim size, the Tonelli theorem applied to gives the exponential tail identityCombining it with the adjustment equation yieldsThe density integrates to one by the tail integral formula for moments. Thus has the equilibrium claim-size distribution, and the preceding formula says .
Under the given NBUE condition, the stochastic order comparison is at every . Apply the same exponential tail identity to both variables to obtainConsequentlyand rearrangement proves the adjustment-coefficient lower bound for NBUE claims:This uses the specified distributional comparison, not an unwarranted assumption that an arbitrary equilibrium claim law is always smaller than its original law.
For the final example, is the shape-two, rate-one gamma distribution, with , survival function , and moment-generating function for . With , the positive adjustment root satisfiesDividing out the zero root and simplifying gives . Only the smaller root is in the finite-transform interval , soThe equilibrium density and survival function areThus for every , proving that this claim law is new better than used in expectation. Finally the lower bound equals . Our exact root is larger because , equivalently . Henceverifying the requested bound for the example.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 37 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
In the classical risk model, let be the Poisson process of claim arrivals, independent of the independent claim sizes. The reserve starts at and earns premiums continuously at rate , soHere is the ultimate ruin probability and is the survival probability. The relative safety loading is .
To derive the survival integro-differential equation, condition on the first claim time , which has the exponential distribution of rate . Immediately before that claim the available capital is . A claim leaves survival probability , since the future claim process restarts with the same independent law; a larger claim causes ruin immediately. The first-claim decomposition for survival probability is thereforePut and . Changing variables to yieldsThis representation justifies differentiation. The function is continuous: extend by zero to negative arguments, then use continuity of translations of the integrable density in to control its convolution with the bounded function . Differentiating the lower endpoint of the displayed integral gives . Since ,This deduction uses the first-arrival law rather than taking the desired differential equation as an assumption.
For , the claim law is an Erlang distribution of shape two and rate two. Its mean is . With , we have . Changing the convolution variable to givesHence the first requested specialization isLet . Differentiation under the finite integral gives and . Differentiating the preceding equation and using then givesThus the second identity isDifferentiate once more:The preceding second-derivative equation gives . Substitution cancels the undifferentiated terms and provesThis is the Erlang claim-size differential equation for survival probability with and .
Its characteristic polynomial factors as . The limit therefore makes the general bounded solutionThe supplied zero-capital survival probability is , so . We also need the initial derivative carried by the original integral equation: implies , giving . Solving gives and . Therefore the survival and ruin probabilities areThe extra initial derivative is essential: and the limit at infinity alone would leave one free parameter in the third-order equation. The result has and tends to zero. It is positive and decreasing, since for . These signs agree with its interpretation as an ultimate ruin probability.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 iii Paper 38 3 Solution 2026-10-14
Let be the cumulative claim amount and the surplus in the classical risk model. The supplied adjustment coefficient satisfies . The Compound Poisson process has independent increments, and the random-sum transform identity givesIt follows that is a nonnegative martingale with : conditional on the past, the multiplicative increment has expected value one. This is the exponential surplus martingale.
Let be the ruin stopping time. Surplus decreases only at claim arrivals, so on the deficit at ruin gives and . The optional stopping theorem at the bounded stopping time yieldsAs increases without bound, the events increase to eventual ruin. Hence the ultimate ruin probability satisfies the Lundberg inequalityThe proof uses only bounded-time stopping; it does not presume that the martingale can be stopped with equality of expected values at an unbounded ruin time.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 40 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Use the classical risk model surplus , with , and write for its ultimate survival probability. The first-claim decomposition for survival probability follows by conditioning on the first arrival time of the Poisson process. That time has exponential distribution of rate . A claim at time leaves capital if , after which the Markov property restarts the same risk model. ConsequentlyPut and change variable :The convolution is continuous since is bounded and is integrable. Differentiating proves the survival integro-differential equation
For the specified claim law, expand its probability density function as . This is an equal-weight mixture distribution of exponential distributions with rates and . In the convolution, set to obtainSince , the requested coefficients are
For the exponential-mixture differential equation for survival probability, define , and . Differentiating the integrals yieldsApply to the last equation, where . The first two equations eliminate , givingThusThe characteristic polynomial factors asThe ordinary differential equation therefore has solution .
The claim expected value is . The relative safety loading is , and the given zero-capital survival probability is . The limit at infinity sets . A third condition comes from the original survival integro-differential equation: its convolution vanishes at zero, so . Thereforewhich gives and . The final survival probability and ultimate ruin probability areBoth exponential coefficients of are positive. Hence increases from to one, and decreases from to zero. The initial slope is essential: the two stated boundary values alone do not determine all three constants of the eliminated differential equation.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 28 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
In the classical risk model write , where the Poisson process has rate and is independent of the claim sizes. Define the ruin time and ultimate ultimate ruin probability byThe relative safety loading is , so . The adjustment coefficient is the nonzero positive solutionExistence and uniqueness follow from the secant-slope existence criterion for an adjustment coefficient. Explicitly, has derivative at zero and is strictly convex for positive claims. The assumed divergence of makes it cross zero once at a positive . When , an exponential lower bound from any positive tail event shows that . In particular is inside the finite-transform domain, not at its endpoint.
Put . Replacing in the survival renewal equation for a classical risk model yieldsBy the tail integral formula for moments, . Therefore this is the defective renewal equationThe original kernel has mass . For the exponential tilt of the ruin renewal kernel, setMultiplying by gives the required proper renewal equationTo verify that this is a probability renewal kernel, Tonelli theorem gives, for in the finite-transform domain,The adjustment coefficient equation consequently implies . Its expected value isIt is finite because is interior to the finite-transform domain and is positive because the strict convex crossing has derivative .
We quote the key renewal theorem in the following form: for a nonarithmetic distribution of positive increments with finite positive mean , and a directly Riemann integrable nonnegative function , the locally bounded solution of satisfies . It has renewal representation ; this follows by iterating the equation, since the probability that arbitrarily many positive increments have sum at most a fixed tends to zero.
Here is absolutely continuous, and hence nonarithmetic distribution, even if the original claim law has atoms. The function is continuous. Choose with . The Markov inequality gives , and hence . Continuity on compact intervals and this exponential bound make the upper Riemann sums finite with uniformly vanishing tails, proving direct Riemann integrability.
A further application of Tonelli theorem evaluates the forcing integral:All hypotheses of the key renewal theorem are now checked, so the interior adjustment coefficient ruin prefactor isThis proves the requested Cramér–Lundberg ruin asymptotic, including its constant.
For the two-component hyperexponential distribution, conditioning on the chosen exponential component givesIts moment-generating function and derivative areThe moment-generating function diverges at , while the derivative of the adjustment equation at zero is negative. Strict convexity therefore places its unique positive adjustment coefficient inThe adjustment equation, divided by , becomesUsing this identity to subtract from givesThus the asymptotic constant in terms of and isThe denominator is positive on the identified domain. If desired, is the smaller root of ; the other algebraic root lies outside the positive finite-transform interval and is not an adjustment coefficient.

