Some actuarial papers

[wellinghall]

Actuarial issues in the novels of Jane Austen

The demography of the British Peerage.

On the statistics of second marriages among the families of the peerage.

Systems of leap years.

The dawn of Scottish social welfare : A survey from medieval times to 1863.

Alcohol and human life.

ETA: You know, I thought it might be the Jane Austen paper that got the most attention! I've put some further details in a comment.

Comments

[emily-shore.livejournal.com]

Do you have a citation for the first one? It sounds interesting.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Skwire, Daniel D.

Actuarial issues in the novels of Jane Austen.

North American Actuarial Journal, 1 (1) (1997) Ref: 60885

"The novels of Jane Austen have enjoyed a resurgence of popularity recently, and many new readers have come to appreciate the relevance of her stories to modern times. This relevance should be particularly evident to actuaries, however, because the novels deal quite explicitly with the issues of wealth, inheritance, mortality, and life expectancy that confronted the nonworking classes of the early nineteenth century.
This paper examines the six novels of Jane Austen from an actuarial perspective. It provides historical background on inheritances, clerical livings, and mortality, and it analyzes the way in which these issues are central to Austen's novels. It uses a contemporary mortality table to assess the accuracy with which Austen's characters estimate life expectancies and annuity calculations. It presents a close study of 'Sense and Sensibility', a novel in which a number of actuarial issues are central to the plot and are presented in great detail. Finally, it suggests that Austen's own background and family life meant that actuarial issues were important in her life and threfore reflected in her novels.
This paper offers a new argument for the relevance of great literature, and it offers actuaries a new perspective from which to explore and understand the history of their profession."

I'd be happy to lend you my copy.

[emily-shore.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I managed to find it online, although it may be that I only have full access via the Oxford libraries subscription..

http://www.soa.org/library/journals/north-american-actuarial-journal/1997/january/naaj9701_4.pdf

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

It doesn't work for me, but I'm glad you managed to get it.

[aster-dw.livejournal.com]

I'm also fascinated by the first one. Hope you are feeling better about everything, by the way.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Thanks :-) I am feeling a bit brighter today - and I hope you are too?

See my response to Shona for the paper ...

[aster-dw.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

Glad to feel that you are on an "up". My day has been pretty much hell up until now, but it's looking better now. Fingers crossed.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

I hope your day continues to pick up! Let me know if you'd like a copy of the paper.

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

The one which caught my attention was the demography of the British peerage...

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

That one was for you!

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

Is there an author or internet link?

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Hollingsworth, T H

The demography of the British Peerage. 1964.

London, Population Investigation Committee, London School of Economics. No. pages: 108.

From a search here:

http://ioa.soutron.com/ioa/library/default.htm

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

I couldn't find an online version of the full volume, but there is one for a study which prefigures it, concentrating on ducal families only at

http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0032-4728%28195707%2911%3A1%3C4%3AADSOTB%3E2.0.CO%3B2-P

for subscribing institutions.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

I have that one, but failed to find an online reference to it when I was making my post. It's quite good, actually.