Economic Scenario Generators are increasingly important in many areas of actuarial work, including risk analysis and financial reporting (both GAAP and SAP). Stochastic modeling is also being used outside the financial reporting community (e.g., among financial planners).

This session will examine questions that an actuary might consider when using Economic Scenario Generators, including:
• How does the purpose affect the choice of generator?
• How is the generator parameterized / calibrated?
• What implicit assumptions and judgments should be communicated to users?
• How does the choice of generator affect the number of scenarios needed?
• What outside resources (including the work of the Academy's Economic Scenario Subgroup) are available to the actuary?

This session will provide insights into the choice of a scenario generator along with the key assumptions and limitations associated with that choice.