How does the modern risk manager view the world? What are the limitations of his or her knowledge? Can risk managers learn anything useful from modelling? And can they use studies of the past to plan effectively for catastrophic risks? Aaron Brown probes for answers in an enlightening roundtable discussion with a group of ... click here for more details.

Risk managers rely on ineffective and illogical techniques.That`s one of the main claims Nassim Nicholas Taleb makes in his controversial new book, The Black Swan. Specifically,Taleb argues that quants focus on statistical projection from common, ordinary events when unexpected, low-probabilty, high-impact events are what determine most profit and loss. He ... click here for more details.

Professor Robert J. Shiller, GARP’s Risk Manager of the Year for 2006, recently spoke with GRR editorin- chief Robert Sales about the growth of finance, the importance of behavioral finance research and the need to extend effective risk management practices to different markets.

Sparked by a wave of natural disasters and terrorist attacks, the costs of traditional insurance have risen significantly. Businesses are therefore now seeking alternative ways to cover their high-impact risks. Rachel S. Kronowitz and Chidi J. Ogene outline the benefits of a variety of alternative risk financing techniques.

Whether you are a borrower, an investor or a risk manager, writes Janet Tavakoli, the current subprime mortgage market is rife with danger.Tavakoli discusses the impact that predatory lending practices have had on borrowers and investors, explores the role investment banks have played in the rise and fall of subprime ... click here for more details.

What steps can a firm take to compute economic capital (EC) for a corporate loan portfolio? How can EC be allocated to the loan level and how should loss distribution be specified? Dr.Marco Folpmers and Peter de Rijke describe how EC can be quantified and explain how it can be ... click here for more details.

Book Review: The Halo Effect Author: Phil Rosenzweig Publisher: Free Press, February 2007