This paper develops a network model of interbank lending, in which banks decide to extend credit to their potential … literature on financial networks, we focus on how anticipation of future defaults may result in ex ante "credit freezes," whereby … banks refuse to extend credit to one another. We first characterize the terms of the interbank contracts and the patterns of …

Intuition suggests that firms with higher cash holdings are safer and should have lower credit spreads. Yet empirically …, the correlation between cash and spreads is robustly positive and higher for lower credit ratings. This puzzling finding … are positively related to credit risk, resulting in a positive correlation between cash and spreads. In contrast, spreads …

. These comovements generate large credit risk premia for investment grade firms, which helps address the "credit spread … defaults, including "credit contagion" and market timing of debt issuance. It also provides a novel procedure to estimate state …

both firm cash flow and macroeconomic credit conditions, holding constant investment opportunities. Sample splits based on …