International trade in financial services is a topic of some importance both to the financial services sector itself and in international trade negotiations. Unfortunately, intrinsic problems in defining and measuring trade in services, combined with a lack of data in many countries, have made...

There are two main tax-related arguments regarding the use of reinsurance – the income volatility reduction and the income level enhancement arguments. The income volatility reduction argument contends that firms facing convex tax schedules have incentives to hedge in order to reduce the...

This study tests whether the organic growth rates of United Kingdom (UK) life insurance firms are independent of size, as predicted by Gibrat's (1931) Law of Proportionate Effects. Using data for 1987–1996 and the three subperiods, 1987–1990, 1990–1993, and 1993–1996, we find that...

There are two main tax-related arguments regarding the use of reinsurance – the income volatility reduction and the income level enhancement arguments. The income volatility reduction argument contends that firms facing convex tax schedules have incentives to hedge in order to reduce the...

International trade finance is concerned broadly with all aspects of the post-production financing of international trade transactions. Thus, it includes methods of international settlement, the documentation of international trade, risk management techniques, short- and long-term lending and...

This paper examines the determinants of financial derivatives use in the United Kingdom life insurance industry. We estimate a probit regression model and a Heckman two-stage sample selection regression model using a sample of eighty-eight U.K. life insurers in 1995. Our results indicate that...

In the insurance industry, claims tend to constitute the major proportion of total annual outgoings across almost all product lines. This study develops a cost function of insurance claims and applies the model to 1988–93 data from the United Kingdom and New Zealand life insurance industries....

There has been much publicity surrounding “new economy” companies, a term embracing “dot.com”, “high-tech” and “innovative high growth” companies, amongst others. Whilst such generic terminology serves to obscure the very real differences between such companies, they are...

Two alternate lines of argument - the tax incentive and disincentive argument - exist to explain the reinsurance decision of insurance company managers. The former argues that insurance managers purchase reinsurance in order to reduce annual reported profits and lower tax liabilities, whereas...