Previous work has claimed that monopoly power facilitates the provision of credit, because monopolists are better able to enforce payment. Here, we argue that if relationship-specific investments are required by borrowers to establish creditworthiness, monopoly power may reduce credit provision because holdup problems ex post will deter borrowers from investing in establishing creditworthiness. Empirically, we examine the relationship between monopoly power and credit provision, using data on the supply relationships of firms in five African countries. Consistent with the up-front investment story, we find that monopoly power is negatively associated with credit provision, and that this correlation is stronger in older supplier relationships. Because the data include several observations per firm, we are able to utilize firm fixed effects, thus netting out unobserved firm characteristics that may have been driving results in earlier studies. © 2004 President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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The authors use firm‐level data from Indian manufacturing industries to explore the determinants of exports, focusing on the role played by technology. The empirical analysis, which distinguishes between a firm's decision to export and the volume of its exports conditional on its having decided to export, reveals that investments in technology via R&D and technology transfer agreements can facilitate the entry of Indian firms into export markets. However, their influence on the volume of exports is fairly limited. Factors with a more broad‐based influence on both export participation and volumes include labor intensity and, especially, firm size.

This article describes the forces that drive financial innovation in the insurance industry, as it relates to the convergence between insurance and capital markets. The authors base their analysis on general principles of supply and demand underlying financial intermediation and innovation, e.g., regulation and taxation. They also provide practical examples from both the capital and insurance markets. Finally, the article addresses the costs and benefits of capital markets‐based insurance solutions and inherent challenges to future innovation.

Although much research has been published on the convergence of insurance and capital markets, few researchers have explored the interrelation between capital market and insurance cycles, i.e., the covariation between (excess) capital and the supply of insurance capacity. The article focuses, in particular, on how investment returns restricted capital outflow and thus impaired the influence of capital market discipline on property and casualty over‐capacity during the mid‐1990s. The authors also discuss how certain risk convergence products develop or evolve in response to the insurance cycles.

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -Derivatives are important risk management tools widely used by financial institutions, including insurers. Insurers rely on derivatives for managing actuarial, market, credit as well as liquidity risks. There is lack of knowledge and publication about the recent use of derivatives by insurers. This paper attempts to fill the gap in the literature. Design/methodology/approach -The paper analyses data based on statutory company filings with state regulators in the USA. Findings -The analysis suggests that derivatives are used by larger companies, especially in the life insurance industry. This could be explained by the significant economies of scale that are possible when using derivatives. Smaller firms do not have the resources to invest in the latest risk management technologies, and management may be uncomfortable using such new tools. Surveys and anecdotal evidence also suggest that, for insurance companies, the lack of familiarity with the regulatory and accounting treatment of derivatives is another reason for their cautious derivative usage. Originality/value -The main value of the paper is the analysis of derivative usage by insurers based on recent data. The brief description of accounting and regulatory issues concerning insurance industry usage of derivatives, provided in the paper, would be useful to managers in insurance companies considering use of derivatives. The paper would also be useful to market participants interested in providing derivative-based solutions to insurance companies.