Looking at a recent sumo world scandal, but also looking at it from the point of view of self-regulation. Can self-regulation work? Looking at professional sumo in Japan, Equitable Life Assurance Society in the UK, and actuarial practice in public pensions in the United States.
[Gyoji photo: By Eckhard Pecher (Arcimboldo) - Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3381695]
Episode Links
Hokuseiho/Miyagino Bullying Scandal
BBC News: Hakuho: Top sumo champion demoted due to protege's violence
Tachiai Blog: Hokuseiho is out; Miyagino Hangs On By a Thread
Japan Times, by John Gunning: How a rethink of supervision at stables could curtail bullying in sumo
Who Will Watch the Watchmen?
... noui
consilia et ueteres quaecumque monetis amici,
"pone seram, cohibes." sed quis custodiet ipsos
custodes? qui nunc lasciuae furta puellae
hac mercede silent crimen commune tacetur.... I know
the plan that my friends always advise me to adopt:
"Bolt her in, constrain her!" But who can watch
the watchmen? They keep quiet about the girl's
secrets and get her as their payment; everyone hushes it up.
Equitable Life Assurance Society
European Parliament document on the fiasco: REPORT on the crisis of the Equitable Life Assurance Society
Equitable Life: A Decade of Regulatory Failure
Public Pension Segment
American Academy of Actuaries Public Discipline
Notice on Jonathan Schwartz’s public discipline from the Academy
Actuarial Board for Counseling and Discipline
STUMP Nov 2018: Actuarial History... Which is Not Really History
While the “voodoo” remark pissed off a lot of actuaries (and thus many complained to the ABCD), he also got dinged for this shoddy work. FWIW, he already did what the Academy required of him as part of his discipline, and while he’s listed as officially retired in the Actuarial Directory, he’s still a member of the SOA and Academy, as far as I can tell.
….
Schwartz was there to say that defined benefit pensions aren’t obsolete, and they are affordable.
And he “persuaded” that these were affordable… by fudging the numbers. Actuarial “voodoo” if you will.
He actually undermined the DB plans by lowballing the cost. Only in the short run do those in the unions get their payouts, but if it turns out the costs (which are ongoing – people who retired at age 50 back in 2008 have a high probability of still being alive, for instance) are too high….
dun dun DUN….
On Self-Regulation: Sumo, Failing Annuities, and Public Pension Practice