1.1. For a number of years now it has been a commonplace amongst actuaries actively involved in unit-linked business that it was time someone wrote a paper dealing adequately with the subject of unit pricing. To those not actively involved with the subject the absence of such a paper may seem unimportant, but the fact is that the price-making process is central to the whole conduct of linked life business. It exerts a major influence upon the profitability and solvency of the office, and upon the relative interests of different classes and generations of policyholders and shareholders. In this respect, it is analogous to the bonus policy of a with profits office.