François Dufresne
Chairman of IME98

The authors of contributing papers who wish to have their papers considered for publication in the special issue of IME, should send their paper by September 30 1998 to Dr. Rob Kaas, Managing Editor of IME. The papers should be prepared according to the instructions to the authors that are published in IME.

You may have recently noted the record temperatures in the beautiful lakeside city of Lausanne that is located in the southwest part of Switzerland. On 21 July 1998, the temperature soared to 37 degrees C. The temperatures were not the only hot thing in Lausanne in mid-summer; 20-22 July marked the meeting of the Second International Congress on Insurance: Mathematics & Economics.

Over one hundred meeting participants gathered to celebrate the congress. Meeting participants had an opportunity to share a broad diversity of ideas. This diversity was due in part to the strong international flavor of the congress. Participants from twenty-two countries attended the congress.

The diversity was also due to the broad range of topics presented at the congress. In all, fifty-three papers were presented. Many papers concerned financial management, investments and financial risks, a theme of the congress. Specifically, three invited papers and fifteen contributed papers concerned various aspects of finance. However, more traditional technical areas were also well represented. There were six papers on credibility theory, seven on ruin theory, three on stochastic ordering as well as a host of other mathematical topics. Further, several practice papers were presented, including three from the health area, two on employee benefits/pensions and three from the life insurance area. Professors Shiu, Cox and Hipp gave the three invited papers. Elias Shiu of University of Iowa presented a talk entitled "Insurance and Finance: Deferred Annuities." This presentation explained the various financial options granted by an insurance company in its assets and liabilities, and point out some applications of modern financial theory to insurance and annuity products. Sam Cox of Georgia State University presented "Insurance Derivatives: Securitization and other Recent Developments." In this lecture, Professor Cox described some recent innovations in securitization of insurance risk and financial risk management. In particular, he discussed a rationale for the continued development of these activities, which is consistent with modern financial economics. Christian Hipp of University of Karlsruhe presented a talk entitled "Stochastic Control Theory with Applications to Hedging and Ruin Problems." Stochastic control theory and its basic Bellman-Hamilton-Jacobi equation were discussed in the context of (1) hedging and (2) risk management problems.

Intellectual stimulation was achieved not only by attending lectures but also with the ample opportunities to interact with colleagues on a social basis. After the first day of the conference, a "raclette party" was held at the University with a beautiful view on the Lake of Geneva and the Alps. (Raclette is a cheese specialty of the French speaking part of Switzerland.) For a dozen or so intrepid conference participants, the Tuesday evening conference banquet was a mere eight kilometers hike along a beautiful lakeside path (others took the bus or city metro).

At the closing session, the applause was loud and strong for the conference organizers, Professors François Dufresne (chairman), André Dubey, and Hans U. Gerber, all members of the Institute of Actuarial Science of the University of Lausanne (ISA). Participants also had the opportunity to thank Professor Goovaerts for his efforts in initiating Insurance: Mathematics and Economics. In addition to an enthusiastic round of applause, Professor Goovaerts received a beautiful ISA tie sparkled with the Institute's acclaimed logo, made of 100% silk in Lyon (France).

In the near future, invited and other selected papers will, after a refereeing process, appear in the journal Insurance: Mathematics & Economics. Also developing are plans for the Third International Congress on Insurance: Mathematics & Economics. This congress is scheduled for 19-21 July 1999 at the City University in London, England. The conference organizer is Richard Verrall who has already acknowledged the challenge of arranging a meeting as successful as its predecessor.

Edward W. Frees
University of Wisconsin