How do you use the Internet to help students keep their fingers on the pulse of the industry?

New Internet Exercises: Added to the end of each chapter, new Internet Research Assignments familiarize students with rich online resources available to risk management and insurance scholars. They also give students further practice putting concepts into real-world contexts. In addition, the ninth edition includes many new hyperlinks connecting students to relevant Web sites. And to help students research the most current material available, the author often identifies suggestions for key words to use with search engines.

How do you bring in current illustrations and applications that reflect emerging trends and issues in the industry? What new topics are most critical for your course?

Currency: The new ninth edition has been thoroughly revised and updated to include significant events in recent history as well as their impact on the insurance industry. It equips students with a solid foundation in traditional terminology and concepts as well as insight into trends and issues that will be important in the future.

Hurricane Devastation: The impact of the catastrophic 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons has raised many challenges for the insurance industry, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the risk management profession, and the entire country. Chapter 2 discusses theoretical and practical questions concerning insurance for natural catastrophes, while Chapter 3 describes some of the risk management lessons learned from these disasters in a new section on crisis risk management.

New Annuities: Product development in life insurance, especially in the area of guaranteed annuity options, has complicated and broadened the choices faced by consumers and professional financial planners. Chapter 15 describes many recent product developments in annuity offerings.

Social Security Changes: The introduction of a prescription drug benefit for Medicare recipients has complicated and broadened the choices faced by eligible Social Security participants. Chapter 23 presents recent information about the Social Security program, including the Medicare prescription drug benefit.

Health Care Dilemma: The U. S. health care delivery system has many critics, and many unsolved problems including the continuing problem of medical malpractice and financing the costs of medically caused injuries. Chapter 16 presents a comprehensive discussion of the health care system, while Chapter 19 discusses the medical malpractice problem and some solutions including President Bush’s proposed cap on non-economic damages (pain and suffering).

Employee Benefits: The steady reduction of the number of defined benefit pension plans accompanied by the steady increase in the number of defined contribution pension plans, including 401(k) plans, has changed the retirement financing plans of many workers. Moreover, the bankruptcy of large employers in the steel, airline, and other industries has caused the financial impairment of the federal agency that guarantees defined benefit plans, the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation. Chapter 22 has a revised discussion of employee benefits, including pension plans.

Ethics: Ethical lapses involving the country’s largest insurance brokers have led to significant readjustment in the business practices of this segment of the insurance industry. Chapter 5 covers this new material.

IFRS Emphasis: The International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) prescribe how and when insurance companies should recognize profits and report the value of their assets and liabilities. The IFRS attach new importance to the efforts of insurance company accountants, insurance supervisors, and insurance financial rating agencies. References to the IFRS appear in several places in this revision.