Inaug.-diss.--Breslau. / Lebenslauf. "Literaturverzeichnis": 3d prelim. leaf.

Thesis--Eskişehir Iktisadî ve Ticarî Ilimler Akademisi. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 83-85).

Thesis--Tübingen. / Cover title. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 103-106).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2003. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 129-132). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (doctoral)--Göteborgs universitet, 2003. / Extra t.p. with thesis statement inserted. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (D. Jur.)--York University, 2001. Graduate Programme in Law. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 403-466). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/yorku/fullcit?pNQ66353.

Thesis (M.A.)--Marshall University, 2003. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains vi, 65 p. Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 41-45).

In recent years, concerns have been raised about the real effects of credit default swaps (CDS) on the economy. Different from the hitherto accepted view that derivatives are redundant, CDS may affect the credit risk and strategic liquidity decision of the reference entities. In this dissertation, I use a unique, comprehensive sample covering 901 CDS introductions on North American corporate issuers, between June 1997 and April 2009, to address these questions. In chapter 2, I investigate whether CDS trading increases the credit risk of the reference entities. I find that the probability of both a credit rating downgrade and bankruptcy increase after the inception of CDS trading. This finding is robust to controlling for the endogeneity of CDS trading in difference-in-difference analysis, propensity score matching, and treatment regressions with instruments. In further corroboration of our basic results, I explore the mechanism behind the increased credit risk after CDS trading, and show that firms with relatively larger amounts of CDS contracts outstanding, and those with more “no restructuring” contracts, are more adversely affected by CDS trading. In chapter 3, I further investigate the effect of CDS on corporate cash holding policies. U.S. firms are holding more cash than at any time in nearly half a century. I find that CDS trading affects corporate cash holdings. Corporate cash holdings increase after the inception of CDS trading. The impact is significant after controlling for the endogeneity of CDS trading. Moreover, cash-to-assets ratios for firms with larger CDS contracts outstanding, and those with less access to financial market are more affected by CDS trading. The impact of CDS is beyond the direct effect of line of credit on cash holdings. / published_or_final_version / Economics and Finance / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

This thesis employs economic experiments and empirical methods to understand the role of comparison income in the demand of individuals' debt. It then investigates the determinants of UK individuals' attitude towards debt, focusing on the role played by comparison income. It uses data from the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) and the New Earnings Survey (NES). The central contributions of this thesis include: (i) the implementation of a life-cycle experiment testing for the differences in consumption levels between Individual and Group treatments; (ii) the computation of a proxy for comparison income using both the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) and the New Earnings Survey (NES); and (iii) the extension of individual demand for debt models with comparison income as main factor. This is achieved by designing and conducting human-subject experiments, wherein individuals execute life-cycle tasks. Results show evidence of larger consumption levels in the Group treatment as compared to the Individual treatment; supporting the notion of comparison consumption. In addition, the empirical methods consist in a tobit and fixed effect models, where individuals' demand for debt is function of several financial and demographic factors, including comparison income. Results show that comparison income plays a significant part in the individuals' demand for mortgage debt and non-mortgage debt. Besides, findings suggest that debtors are more likely to hold favourable attitude towards debt; and this is exacerbated by household relative income. Overall, results support the hypothesis of aspiration paradox (Olsen, 2008); which affirms individuals' aspirations may lead them to incur debt beyond their financial means.

No description available.