Jean Lemaire
- Harry J. Loman Professor Emeritus of Insurance and Risk Management
- Professor Emeritus of Statistics
- Professor Emeritus of Actuarial Science
- Professor Emeritus of Business Economics and Public Policy
Contact Information
- Primary Email:
lemaire@wharton.upenn.edu - Office Phone:
(215) 898-7765
Research Interests: evaluation of adverse selection in insurance markets due to genetic testing, merit-rating systems in automobile insurance, the impact of firearm deaths on life expectancies in the united states
Links: CV
Overview
Education
BS, Applied Mathematics, 1969, Summa Cum Laude, Université Libre de Bruxelles (U.L.B.)
Teaching Certificate, 1969, Summa Cum Laude, U.L.B.
MS, Actuarial Science, 1972, Summa Cum Laude, U.L.B.
Operations Research Certificate, 1972, U.L.B.
Ph.D., Mathematics, 1973, Summa Cum Laude, U.L.B.
Associate, Society of Actuaries, 1997
Jean Lemaire is the Harry J. Loman Professor of Insurance and Risk Management at the Wharton School. He holds a BS in mathematics, a MS in actuarial science, and a Ph.D. in applied mathematics, all obtained at the Free University of Brussels. He joined the Wharton School in 1987 as Director of the Actuarial Science Program.
Jean Lemaire has published over 100 research papers and books in game theory and actuarial science. He has lectured on insurance regulation and actuarial science in over 60 countries. His 1985 book “Automobile Insurance: Actuarial Models” was the insurance book-of-the-year both in Europe and in the US. His books have been translated in French, Spanish, Mandarin, Russian, Japanese, and Korean.
Jean Lemaire is a winner of the 1988 International Prize of the Italian Academy of Science, the most important prize awarded to insurance researchers in terms of amount and prestige. In 2008 he was elected Honorary Chairman of ASTIN, the non-life section of the International Actuarial Association, and received the Wharton School’s Hauck Award for excellence in teaching. His current research interests include the study of merit-rating systems in automobile insurance, the impact of genetic testing on insurance, and the consequences of gun violence.
Research
Jean Lemaire, Sojung C. Park, Kili Wang (2016), Further Comments on the Paper “Setting a Bonus–Malus Scale in the Presence of Other Rating Factors” by Taylor, European Actuarial Journal, 6 (2), pp. 495-499.
Sojung Carol Park, Jean Lemaire, Xiaoying Xie (2016), The Opaqueness of Structured Bonds: Evidence from the U.S. Insurance Industry, The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, 41 (4), pp. 650-676.
Jean Lemaire, Sojung Carol Park, Kili C. Wang (2016), The Use of Annual Mileage as a Rating Variable, ASTIN Bulletin, 46 (1), pp. 39-69.
Jean Lemaire, Sojung Carol Park, Kili C. Wang (2015), The Impact of Covariates on a Bonus–Malus System: An Application of Taylor’s Model, European Actuarial Journal, 5 (1), pp. 1-10.
Jean Lemaire (2014), Issues in Bonus-Malus Systems Design, The Journal of Risk Management, 25 (), pp. 1-22.
Joelle Fong, Jean Lemaire, Yiu Kuen Tse (2014), Improving Money’s Worth Ratio Calculations: The Case of Singapore’s Pension Annuities, Asia-Pacific Journal of Risk and Insurance, 8 (1), pp. 1-26.
Abstract: This paper contributes to a better understanding of the risks involved in a life annuity investment. We study the full distribution of weighted annuity benefits and quantify risk measures such as dispersion and skewness, thereby extending the usefulness of the popular money’s worth valuation framework for life annuities. Using data from pension annuities in Singapore, we also introduce several risk measures that might appeal to less financially sophisticated retirees. A more detailed and accurate picture of the risk of investing in life annuities emerges, enabling prospective annuitants to differentiate among products that may appear seemingly uniform in terms of money’s worth, but vary widely in terms of their risk attributes.
Sojung Carol Park and Jean Lemaire (2012), The Impact of Culture on the Demand for Non-Life Insurance, ASTIN Bulletin, 42 (2), pp. 501-527.
S. Park, Jean Lemaire, Chua, C.T. (2010), Is the Design of Bonus-Malus Systems Influenced by Insurance Maturity or National Culture – Evidence from Asia, Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance: Issues and Practice, 35 ().
T. Richmond and Jean Lemaire (2008), Years of Life Lost due to Gunshot Injury to the Spinal Cord and Brain, American Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 87 (), pp. 609-618.
J Weiner, D.J. Wiebe, T. Richmond, K Beam, A Berman, Charles Branas, R Cheney, T. Coyne-Beasley, J. Firman, M. Fishbein, S. Hargarten, D. Hemenway, R Jeffcoat, D. Kennedy, C.S. Koper, Jean Lemaire, M. Miller, JA Roth, C.W. Schwab, R Spitzer, S. Teret, J. Vernick, D. Webster (2007), Reducing Firearm Violence: A Research Agenda, Injury Prevention, 13 (), pp. 80-84.
Teaching
All Courses
BEPP4510 - Fund of Actuarial Sci I
This course is the usual entry point in the actuarial science program. It is required for students who plan to concentrate or minor in actuarial science. It can also be taken by others interested in the mathematics of personal finance and the use of mortality tables. For future actuaries, it provides the necessary knowledge of compound interest and its applications, and basic life contingencies definition to be used throughout their studies. Non-actuaries will be introduced to practical applications of finance mathematics, such as loan amortization and bond pricing, and premium calculation of typical life insurance contracts. Main topics include annuities, loans and bonds; basic principles of life contingencies and determination of annuity and insurance benefits and premiums. This course may be taken concurrently with the prerequisite with instructor permission.
BEPP4530 - Actuarial Statistics
This course covers models for insurer's losses, and applications of Markov chains. Poisson processes, including extensions such as non-homogeneous, compound, and mixed Poisson processes are studied in detail. The compound model is then used to establish the distribution of losses. An extensive section on Markov chains provides the theory to forecast future states of the process, as well as numerous applications of Markov chains to insurance, finance, and genetics. The course is abundantly illustrated by examples from the insurance and finance literature. While most of the students taking the course are future actuaries, other students interested in applications of statistics may discover in class many fascinating applications of stochastic processes and Markov chains. This course may be taken concurrently with the prerequisite with instructor permission.
BEPP8510 - Fund of Actuarial Sci I
This course is the usual entry point in the actuarial science program. It is required for students who plan to concentrate or minor in actuarial science. It can also be taken by others interested in the mathematics of personal finance and the use of mortality tables. For future actuaries, it provides the necessary knowledge of compound interest and its applications, and basic life contingencies definition to be used throughout their studies. Non-actuaries will be introduced to practical applications of finance mathematics, such as loan amortization and bond pricing, and premium calculation of typical life insurance contracts. Main topics include annuities, loans and bonds; basic principles of life contingencies and determination of annuity and insurance benefits and premiums. Prerequisite: One semester of calculus.
BEPP8530 - Actuarial Statistics
This course covers models for insurer's losses, and applications of Markov chains. Poisson processes, including extensions such as non-homogeneous, compound, and mixed Poisson processes are studied in detail. The compound model is then used to establish the distribution of losses. An extensive section on Markov chains provides the theory to forecast future states of the process, as well as numerous applications of Markov chains to insurance, finance, and genetics. The course is abundantly illustrated by examples from the insurance and finance literature. While most of the students taking the course are future actuaries, other students interested in applications of statistics may discover in class many fascinating applications of stochastic processes and Markov chains. Prerequisite: Two semesters of statistics.
STAT3990 - Independent Study
Written permission of instructor and the department course coordinator required to enroll in this course.
STAT4510 - Fund of Actuarial Sci I
This course is the usual entry point in the actuarial science program. It is required for students who plan to concentrate or minor in actuarial science. It can also be taken by others interested in the mathematics of personal finance and the use of mortality tables. For future actuaries, it provides the necessary knowledge of compound interest and its applications, and basic life contingencies definition to be used throughout their studies. Non-actuaries will be introduced to practical applications of finance mathematics, such as loan amortization and bond pricing, and premium calculation of typical life insurance contracts. Main topics include annuities, loans and bonds; basic principles of life contingencies and determination of annuity and insurance benefits and premiums. This course may be taken concurrently with the prerequisite with instructor permission.
STAT4530 - Actuarial Statistics
This course covers models for insurer's losses, and applications of Markov chains. Poisson processes, including extensions such as non-homogeneous, compound, and mixed Poisson processes are studied in detail. The compound model is then used to establish the distribution of losses. An extensive section on Markov chains provides the theory to forecast future states of the process, as well as numerous applications of Markov chains to insurance, finance, and genetics. The course is abundantly illustrated by examples from the insurance and finance literature. While most of the students taking the course are future actuaries, other students interested in applications of statistics may discover in class many fascinating applications of stochastic processes and Markov chains. This course may be taken concurrently with the prerequisite with instructor permission.
STAT8510 - Fund of Actuarial Sci I
This course is the usual entry point in the actuarial science program. It is required for students who plan to concentrate or minor in actuarial science. It can also be taken by others interested in the mathematics of personal finance and the use of mortality tables. For future actuaries, it provides the necessary knowledge of compound interest and its applications, and basic life contingencies definition to be used throughout their studies. Non-actuaries will be introduced to practical applications of finance mathematics, such as loan amortization and bond pricing, and premium calculation of typical life insurance contracts. Main topics include annuities, loans and bonds; basic principles of life contingencies and determination of annuity and insurance benefits and premiums. Prerequisite: One semester of calculus.
STAT8530 - Actuarial Statistics
This course covers models for insurer's losses, and applications of Markov chains. Poisson processes, including extensions such as non-homogeneous, compound, and mixed Poisson processes are studied in detail. The compound model is then used to establish the distribution of losses. An extensive section on Markov chains provides the theory to forecast future states of the process, as well as numerous applications of Markov chains to insurance, finance, and genetics. The course is abundantly illustrated by examples from the insurance and finance literature. While most of the students taking the course are future actuaries, other students interested in applications of statistics may discover in class many fascinating applications of stochastic processes and Markov chains. Prerequisite: Two semesters of statistics.
Awards and Honors
- Wharton Undergraduate Excellence in Teaching Award, 2012
- Wharton Undergraduate Excellence in Teaching Award, 2011
- Wharton Undergraduate Excellence in Teaching Award, 2008
- Wharton Hauck Award for Excellence in Teaching by a Tenured Faculty Member, 2008
- Elected honorary Chairman of ASTIN, 2008
- Wharton Undergraduate Excellence in Teaching Award, 2007
- Wharton Undergraduate Excellence in Teaching Award, 2006
- Wharton Undergraduate Excellence in Teaching Award, 2004
- Elected Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries, 2001
- Best feature paper award, Journal of Risk and Insurance, 2000
- Clarence Arthur Kulp Memorial Award, American Risk and Insurance Association, 1997
- International INA-Lincei Prize, Italian Academy of Sciences, 1988
- Clarence Arthur Kulp Memorial Award, American Risk and Insurance Association, 1987
- Ernst Meyer Prize, Geneva Association, 1986
In the News
- Efforts Are Growing to Trim the Fat from Employees — and Employers’ Health Care Costs, Knowlege@Wharton - 11/01/2006
- Insurance, Life Expectancy and the Cost of Firearm Deaths in the U.S., Knowlege@Wharton - 06/15/2005
- In the Tsunami’s Wake: How Best to Respond, Knowlege@Wharton - 01/28/2005
- How Will Insurers Deal With Their Most Expensive Catastrophe?, Knowlege@Wharton - 09/26/2001
- Genetic Testing’s Uneasy Relationship with Life Insurance, Knowlege@Wharton - 03/01/2000
Knowledge at Wharton
- Is India’s Insurance Market Coming of Age?, Knowledge at Wharton - 11/9/2017
- Why Genetic Testing Is a ‘Perfect Storm’ for Insurers, Knowledge at Wharton - 6/7/2017
- The Economic Toll of High Suicide Rates in Japan and South Korea, Knowledge at Wharton - 3/20/2017
- Books for the Beach, Knowledge at Wharton - 6/25/2013
- The Link between Smaller Sodas and Shrinking Waistlines, Knowledge at Wharton - 6/4/2012
- Bursting the Bubble on the NYC Soda Ban, Knowledge at Wharton - 6/1/2012
- Efforts Are Growing to Trim the Fat from Employees — and Employers’ Health Care Costs, Knowledge at Wharton - 11/1/2006
- Insurance, Life Expectancy and the Cost of Firearm Deaths in the U.S., Knowledge at Wharton - 6/15/2005
- Looking Back at the 2004 Asian Tsunami: How Can We Better Prepare, Knowledge at Wharton - 1/28/2005
- In the Aftermath of September 11, Insurers Face Historic Workers’ Compensation Losses, Knowledge at Wharton - 9/26/2001
Activity
Latest Research
In the News
Is India’s Insurance Market Coming of Age?A spate of insurance IPOs in India has put the sector in the spotlight. Given a more favorable regulatory environment, will foreign investors seek higher stakes?…Read More
Knowledge at Wharton - 11/9/2017