Some new classes of stochastic order relations among arithmetic random variables, with applications in actuarial sciences

Recently, Fishburn and Lavalle (1995) and Lefevre and Utev (1996) have considered some stochastic order relations specific for arithmetic random variables. The present work is concerned with these orderings, together with two other classes of stochastic order relations closely related. First, attention is paid to characterizations and various properties of all these orderings. Then, sufficient conditions of crossing-type for the two new classes of orderings are derived and extrema among discrete random variables are deduced. This is applied in actuarial sciences to obtain new bounds for the classical single life premiums as well as for the probability of ruin in the compound binomial risk model. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.