Essays on pensions, health expectancy and credit insurance

The choice of payment terms has increasingly become more important in determining the success of exporting transactions. While exporters often use Open Account (OA) terms to secure international contracts and to expand export levels, these terms in turn make them face more non-payment risks. In Export Credit Insurance and Trade Promotion, we present a theoretical model showing the competitiveness of OA terms in international trade, and the risk-reducing as well as export-enhancing role played by export credit insurance programs. Our theoretical analysis shows that, when exporters are risk averse, these programs are always effective without breaking the legal and financial obligations. Using Chinese export and insurance data, both static and dynamic models show a positive and statistically significant export-promoting effect of export credit insurance in China. The insurance effect across income groups also suggests the success of export credit insurance in diversifying export destinations.