We document that the emergence of markets for single-name credit default swap (CDS) contracts adversely affects equity market quality. The finding that firms with traded CDS contracts on their debt have less liquid equity and less efficient stock prices is robust across a variety of market...

We analyze how Credit Default Swaps (CDS) affect bank incentives and borrower outcomes in renegotiations after covenant violations. Using a regression-discontinuity design and within lender-borrower variation, we find that CDS firms maintain investment after control rights shift to the creditor,...

We find that a firm's stock price reaction to its credit rating downgrade announcement is muted by 44--52% when credit default swaps (CDSs) trade on its debt. We explore the role of the CDS markets in providing information ex ante and relieving financing frictions ex post for downgraded firms....