Kent Matthews is the Julian Hodge Professor of Banking and Finance at Cardiff University. He trained at the London School of Economics, Birkbeck College and Liverpool University and has held previous academic positions at Liverpool University, Liverpool Business School. He has held visiting posts at the Catholic University of Leuven Belgium, Humbolt University, Berlin and University ofWestern Ontario, Canada as well as professional posts at the National Institute of Economic & Social Research, the Bank of England and Lombard Street Research Ltd.

Philip Booth BA, PhD, FIA, FSS is Editorial and Programme Director at the Institute of Economic Affairs and Professor of Insurance and Risk Management at Cass Business School, City University. He has previously worked as a special advisor on financial stability issues for the Bank of England. Philip Booth is editor of the journal Economic Affairs and associate editor of the British Actuarial Journal. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries and of the Royal Statistical Society. Amongst previous books he has written are Investment Mathematics (Wiley), Modern Actuarial Theory and Practice (CRC/Chapman Hall) and The Way Out of the Pensions Quagmire (Institute of Economic Affairs). He teaches, researches and writes in the areas of finance, investment and social insurance.